AMSTERDAM: Dutch industry is largely reliant on exports with 70% of sales in 2015 going abroad, according to a report by the national statistics office CBS published on Wednesday.
This is the highest percentage in 20 years. The industrial sector is far more dependent upon exports than the economy is as a whole, with only 32% of the economy export-dependent. The food and drinks sector is becoming more export-oriented, the CBS noted.
The industrial sector provides some 700,000 full-time jobs, of which 426,000 are export-related, the CBS said. The main export markets in 2015 were Germany, Belgium, Britain, France, the US and Italy, in line with the top five 10 years previously. China was ranked seventh in 2015 up from 14th place in 2006.
Dutch industrial exports to China more than doubled to 2.9% from 1.3% in the nine years to 2016.
