Exports up by over 4 percent in December

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© Hollandse Hoogte / Marco van Middelkoop luchtfotografie
As reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the total volume of goods exports grew by 4.3 percent in December year-on-year. Growth was higher than in the previous month. In December 2019, exports of machinery and appliances, petroleum products and chemical products increased in particular. The volume of imports was 3.6 percent higher than in December 2018.

The CBS Exports Radar indicates that circumstances for exports in February 2020 are slightly more favourable than in December 2019.

Exports of goods (volume, adjusted for working days)
Year Month%-change (year-on-year %-change)
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
2019August3.5
2019September1.5
2019October5.5
2019November1.9
2019December4.3

Conditions for exports in February slightly more favourable than in December

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 February are slightly more favourable than in December. This is mainly because producer confidence in Germany and the eurozone was less negative. Furthermore, the development of the real effective exchange rate improved on an annual basis. However, 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.

Sources

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