Exports up by 1.5 percent in May

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As reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the total volume of goods exports grew by 1.5 percent in May year-on-year. Growth was higher than in the previous month. In May 2019, exports of chemical products and machinery increased in particular. On the other hand, exports of electro-technical equipment was down. The volume of imports was 3 percent higher than in May 2018.

Overall growth in both imports and exports is affected negatively by a large company which relocated part of its business activities to another country as of October 2018.

The CBS Exports Radar indicates that circumstances for exports in July are less favourable than in May.

Exports of goods (volume, adjusted for working days)
Year Month%-change (year-on-year %-change)
2015June4.9
2015July5.3
2015August6.6
2015September3.5
2015October5.6
2015November4.4
2015December4
2016January4.2
2016February3.5
2016March3.6
2016April5.4
2016May6.3
2016June2.3
2016July2.9
2016August3
2016September5.8
2016October3.3
2016November6.4
2016December5.3
2017January1.7
2017February6.7
2017March8.3
2017April0.7
2017May4.6
2017June10.8
2017July7
2017August7.2
2017September7.8
2017October6.9
2017November7
2017December6.1
2018January4.7
2018February4.6
2018March3.2
2018April6.8
2018May4.6
2018June0.3
2018July2.8
2018August2.7
2018September3.2
2018October3.2
2018November1
2018December0.5
2019January0.9
2019February1
2019March1.7
2019April0.8
2019May1.5

Conditions for exports in July less favourable than in May

Every month, CBS also publishes updates on the circumstances for exports in the Exports Radar. Conditions are strongly affected by recent developments on the main export markets for Dutch products and by the competitive position of the Netherlands. Although the Radar indicators show a strong correlation with export activity, improved circumstances are not necessarily translated into increased export growth.

According to the CBS Exports Radar, circumstances for Dutch exports in July are less favourable than in May. This is mainly due to the fact that the development of the real effective exchange rates deteriorated. In addition, opinions of manufacturers in the eurozone about their foreign orders were more negative. The development of the German manufacturing output also deteriorated and producer confidence in Germany was more negative.

Goods exports account for approximately three-quarters of total exports. As for data on exports of services, these are not published monthly. Data on total exports are published quarterly and annually. Figures published in this news release are provisional and subject to revision.

Sources

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