The Netherlands is the EU’s third-largest exporter for 2023

The Netherlands was the third-largest exporter of goods and services among EU countries in 2023. Only Germany and France exported more. The Netherlands exported 945 billion euros in goods and services in 2023 (based on change of ownership), and goods exports accounted for a relatively large share of the Netherlands’ total exports. The Netherlands is the EU’s second-largest exporter of goods, after Germany. This is according to new figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

The Netherlands exports far more goods and services than it imports. This means that international trade makes a positive contribution to GDP. For these figures, exports are defined by change of ownership. This means that legal ownership of goods and services is transferred from a person or entity located in the Netherlands to one located in another country. This is a different definition to that used for cross-border trade in goods. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) publishes separate figures on cross-border trade.Main exports are business services and chemical and pharmaceutical productsBusiness services and chemical and pharmaceutical products made up the largest share of Dutch exports in 2023. The Netherlands also exported a high volume of food and beverage products, machinery and electrical equipment. This includes both products and services that were produced in the Netherlands and re-exports. Goods re-exports make up over 37 percent of Dutch exports of goods and services.Compared to 2015, exports of machinery and electrical equipment, chemical and pharmaceutical products and other industrial products have increased, in particular. Mineral exports, on the other hand, were lower in 2023 than they were in 2015.