International trade; Dutch export specialisation with respect to the EU

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International trade; Dutch export specialisation with respect to the EU
Harmonized System Periods Balassa index (%) Share of chapter in total exports (%) Distribution of exports Exports of Dutch products Distribution of exports Re-exports
02 Meat and edible meat offal 2021 1.9 1.6 88.1 11.9
03 Fish and crustaceans, molluscs and... 2021 1.4 0.6 71.4 28.6
04 Dairy produce; birds eggs; natural... 2021 1.7 1.5 80.4 19.6
06 Live trees and other plants; bulbs... 2021 19.3 2.0 93.2 6.8
07 Edible vegetables and certain root... 2021 3.2 1.2 81.6 18.4
08 Edible fruit and nuts; peel of cit... 2021 2.4 1.2 24.0 76.0
09 Coffee, tea, maté and spices 2021 1.1 0.2 56.2 43.8
12 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; m... 2021 2.7 0.7 52.8 47.2
13 Lac; gums, resins and other vegeta... 2021 0.3 0.0 58.2 41.8
15 Animal or vegetable fats and oils ... 2021 2.0 1.0 69.0 31.0
17 Sugars and sugar confectionery 2021 1.4 0.3 78.7 21.3
18 Cocoa and cocoa preparations 2021 2.1 0.8 64.5 35.5
22 Beverages, spirits and vinegar 2021 1.0 1.2 66.4 33.6
23 Residues and waste from the food i... 2021 1.9 0.9 71.2 28.8
24 Tobacco and manufactured tobacco s... 2021 0.5 0.2 67.2 32.8
25 Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; p... 2021 1.1 0.2 72.5 27.5
26 Ores, slag and ash 2021 0.9 0.2 16.5 83.5
27 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and pr... 2021 2.9 12.6 59.5 40.5
33 Essential oils and resinoids; perf... 2021 0.6 0.8 67.4 32.6
39 Plastics and articles thereof 2021 1.0 4.6 75.2 24.8
40 Rubber and articles thereof 2021 0.7 0.8 40.6 59.4
41 Raw hides and skins (other than fu... 2021 0.4 0.0 60.0 40.0
42 Articles of leather; saddlery and ... 2021 0.5 0.3 38.4 61.6
43 Furskins and artificial fur; manuf... 2021 0.3 0.0 55.6 44.4
44 Wood and articles of wood; wood ch... 2021 0.3 0.4 59.3 40.7
45 Cork and articles of cork 2021 0.0 0.0 43.7 56.3
48 Paper and paperboard; articles of ... 2021 0.6 1.0 77.4 22.6
54 Man-made filaments; strip and the ... 2021 1.3 0.2 73.6 26.4
56 Wadding, felt and nonwovens; speci... 2021 0.6 0.1 74.2 25.8
57 Carpets and other textile floor co... 2021 2.9 0.2 77.7 22.3
61 Articles of apparel and clothing a... 2021 0.9 1.0 1.5 98.5
62 Articles of apparel and clothing a... 2021 0.9 1.0 0.2 99.8
64 Footwear, gaiters and the like; pa... 2021 0.7 0.6 34.2 65.8
65 Headgear and parts thereof 2021 1.2 0.1 48.0 52.0
67 Prepared feathers and down and art... 2021 2.4 0.0 54.1 45.9
70 Glass and glassware 2021 0.4 0.2 58.1 41.9
71 Natural or cultured pearls, precio... 2021 0.1 0.2 61.5 38.5
72 Iron and steel 2021 0.8 2.4 64.3 35.7
74 Copper and articles thereof 2021 0.5 0.5 48.9 51.1
75 Nickel and articles thereof 2021 1.8 0.2 20.5 79.5
76 Aluminium and articles thereof 2021 0.8 1.0 53.8 46.2
78 Lead and articles thereof 2021 0.7 0.0 90.3 9.7
79 Zinc and articles thereof 2021 1.7 0.2 75.4 24.6
80 Tin and articles thereof 2021 2.0 0.0 19.1 80.9
85 Electrical machinery and equipment... 2021 1.1 10.1 21.9 78.1
88 Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts th... 2021 0.2 0.3 36.7 63.3
89 Ships, boats and floating structures 2021 1.6 0.9 77.2 22.8
91 Clocks and watches and parts thereof 2021 0.7 0.1 29.0 71.0
92 Musical instruments; parts and acc... 2021 1.4 0.0 38.8 61.2
93 Arms and ammunition; parts and acc... 2021 0.1 0.0 68.1 31.9
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Dataset is not available.


This table describes the export specialisation of Dutch exports using the Balassa index. A Balassa index higher than 1 indicates specialisation in a product. If the index is below 1, there is no specialisation in that product.

The table also shows the share of each product chapter of the Harmonized System in total Dutch exports. Furthermore, it shows both the share of products made in the Netherlands as the re-exports of this chapter.

Data available from: 1996.

Status of the figures:
The figures are definite.

Changes as of December 19, 2022:
The final figures for 2021 have been added.

When will new figures be published?
The figures become available in the fourth quarter after the year under review.

Description topics

Balassa index
The Balassa index measures the degree of specialisation of the Dutch export products. A Balassa index higher than 1 indicates specialisation in that product; an index lower than 1 means that there is no specialisation in that product. In this table Dutch exports in a given product are compared to the exports of the EU (excluding the Netherlands). For the period 1996-2016 this comparison is with the EU-15, for 2017-2020 (January) with the EU-28 and from 2020 (February) with the EU-27.

For example, the Balassa index for cereals in 2009 is calculated as follows:

- Exports of cereals by the Netherlands: 397 million euro
- Total exports of the Netherlands: 309,359 million euro
- Exports of cereals by EU-15 (excluding the Netherlands): 9,916 million euro
- Total exports by EU-15 (excluding the Netherlands): 2,572,634 million euro
The Balassa index then equals:

(397 / 309,359 million euro)
--------- divided by --------------- = 0.3
(9,916 / 2,572,634 million euro)

The outcome is 0.3 so it is less than 1 which means that the Netherlands has no export specialisation for the export product cereals compared with the EU-15 member states.

Share of chapter in total exports
The share of the commodities in this chapter in the exports of all commodities together.
Distribution of exports
Exports of Dutch products
Exports of commodities produced or manufactured in the Netherlands.
Re-exports
Goods transported via the Netherlands, which are temporarily owned by a resident of the Netherlands, without any significant industrial processing.

Explanation
Re-exports include among other things commodities that are cleared through customs by Dutch distribution centres and are delivered to other countries (within Europe). Unlike transit trade, re-exports are part of Dutch imports and exports.