Exports up by over 7 percent in October

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As reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the total volume of goods exports grew by 7.4 percent in October year-on-year. Growth was higher than in the previous months. In October 2019, exports of petroleum products, chemical products, machinery and appliances increased in particular. The volume of imports was 4.4 percent higher than in October 2018.

The CBS Exports Radar indicates that circumstances for exports in December are less favourable than in October.

Exports of goods (volume, adjusted for working days)
Year Month%-change (year-on-year %-change)
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
2019April0.7
2019May0.6
2019June1.3
2019July0.2
2019August2.1
2019September1.8
2019October7.4

Conditions for exports in December less favourable than in October

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 exports in December are less favourable than in October. This is mainly because the year-on-year decline in the German manufacturing output was more substantial.

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.