Terms of trade down on twelve months ago

Compared with one year previously, the Dutch terms of trade were down again in March 2010. Prices of imported goods were 6.2 percent up, while prices of exported goods rose by 4.4 percent. The terms of trade in March were about the same as in February.

The decrease was mainly caused by price developments of petroleum and natural gas. The Netherlands imports considerably more petroleum than it exports, and exports much more natural gas than it imports. In March 2010, petroleum prices were much higher than in March 2009, whereas natural gas prices were considerably lower than one year previously. Besides higher petroleum prices, import prices were also up because of higher prices for petroleum derivatives and basic metals. Export prices for these products were also much higher than one year previously.

More information on terms of trade can be found in the article Changes in the terms of trade in goods.

Terms of trade

More figures can be found on the theme page International trade.