The export of Dutch food and beverages to China has more than doubled in the past five years, mainly due to milk powder. This places meat and dairy products comfortably in second place, after the sale of machines and mechanical equipment made in the Netherlands to China. This emerges from new data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
In 2019, the Netherlands earned 4.6 billion euros from the export of goods to China. This was 53 percent more than the 3.0 billion euros in 2015. Earnings from the export of machines and foodstuffs increased especially. In the first three quarters of last year, the export value of goods to China was even higher.
Dutch companies earned over 1.3 billion euros in 2019 from the export of machines and parts to China, nearly doubling compared to 2015. This includes specialized machines such as chip machines, food industry machines, and agricultural machinery.
Export earnings from food products (including baby milk powder) were 728 million euros and from meat 469 million euros (tripled since 2015). China is an important destination for baby milk powder. Meat climbed from fifth to third place in the top ten export products.
Other lucrative export products include high-quality plastics (198 million euros), pharmaceutical products (151 million euros), and metal and metal products (129 million euros). Finally, the Netherlands also earned substantially from the export of scientific instruments to China.
On average, the Netherlands earned 57 euro cents in 2019 on every euro of Dutch-made products exported to China. That is more than the average for total exports of Dutch-made goods (54 euro cents), but slightly less than in 2015 (60 euro cents).