Strong increase in trade with Poland

Of all the EU candidate member states Poland is by far the most important trading partner for the Netherlands. Dutch goods trade with Poland, both imports and exports, has doubled in the last five years.

Trade with Poland

Total Dutch imports have risen by 55 percent in the last five years, total exports by 57 percent.

Eastern Europe

After Russia, Poland is the second most important trading partner for the Netherlands. The Netherlands imported more than 8.6 billion euro worth of goods from Eastern Europe in 2001. Nearly one fifth of these came from Poland. In the opposite direction 28 percent of the 9.4 billion euro worth of goods that went to Eastern Europe went to Poland.

Imports: machines account for more than a third

In 2001 1.5 billion euro of goods were imported from Poland, an increase of thirteen percent compared with 2000. Total Dutch imports rose by half of one percent to 217 billion euro in 2001. More than one third of imports from Poland are machines.

Computers main export product

Exports to Poland represented a value of 2.6 billion euro in 2001, an increase of four percent on the preceding year. Total Dutch exports also rose by four percent in value. Computers (including components) with a value of nearly 0.4 billion euro are the main export product to Poland, although for these products the Netherlands is the distributor, not the producer.

Trade surplus

As imports rose slightly faster in 2001 than exports, the surplus on the balance of trade with Poland fell by six percent to 1.1 billion euro. The surplus has risen by 135 percent in the last five years. The surplus on the overall balance of trade of the Netherlands rose by 77 percent in the same period.

Trade surplus with Poland

Wiel Packbier