Agricultural trade 2022: Poland and the Netherlands

General

The Netherlands exported an estimated € 122.3 bln in agricultural goods (primary unprocessed goods and secondary processed goods) in 2022, which was 17.2% higher than in 2021. This is a new record and is entirely due to the increased prices of agricultural products.

The estimated total exports of € 122.3 bln of agricultural goods consisted of € 79.8 bln of exported goods of Dutch origin and € 42.5 bln of re-exported agricultural goods originating from other countries.

As in previous years, in 2022 most agricultural exports went to the neighbouring countries. Almost a quarter of the estimated total exports went to Germany. Belgium was in second place with 12%. This was followed by France (8.5%) and the United Kingdom (UK, 7.8%) as most important buyers. The EU – excluding the UK – is by far the largest export market for the Netherlands, with a share of 69.7% in 2022.

The main commodity groups in agricultural exports were dairy products and eggs (€ 11.9 bln), floricultural products (€ 11.5 bln), meat (€ 11 bln), drinks (€ 8.1 bln) and natural oils and fats (€ 8.1 bln). This top five accounted for 41% of the total export value in 2022.

In the agricultural goods market, the Netherlands earned the most from exports of floricultural products in 2021 (€ 7.1 bln; data for 2022 not yet available), of which € 6.8 bln came from exports of Dutch products and € 0.3 bln from re-exports. This was followed by exports of meat (€ 4.4 bln), dairy products and eggs (€ 4.2 bln), and vegetables (€ 3.8 bln).

Export to Poland

The export from the Netherlands to Poland related to agricultural products grew with 12% in terms of value to € 3,7 bln in 2022, compared to € 3,3 bln in 2021. Poland ranks therefore as 8th export destination.

• Goods of Dutch origin remained almost at the same level as in 2021 at a value of € 2,0 bln (+4%).
• The value of re-exported agricultural goods originating from other countries, increased to € 1,7 bln in 2022 compared to € 1,4 bln in 2021.

In terms of value of agricultural goods of Dutch origin, the export to Poland grew in 2022 with 4%. This is a relatively small growth compared to other export destinations in the top 10. When re-exported products are taking out of the trade, Poland ranks as 9th export destination for the Dutch agrisector

Agricultural related goods

In the report, a differentation is made between agricultural and agricultural related goods. Agricultural related goods are for example agri machinery, fertilizers, crop protection products and (parts of) greenhouses. When it comes to agricultural related goods, Poland ranks as 7th export destination.

Floriculture important

Poland remained the 5th export destination for the floricultural sector, with a value of € 347 mln. In 2022 the export to Poland remained on the same level as in 2021. This is against the general trend, where we see a decline in exportvalue in total of 4% to € 11,5 bln, especially seen in the top export destinations.

Earnings

In terms of earnings on export of agricultural goods, Poland ranks as 9th for the Dutch sector in 2021 with € 1.232 mln. This is an increase of 60% compared to 2015. 

Floricultural products are the Netherlands’ most lucrative agricultural exports when calculated in terms of earnings per euro of export value: € 0,67 in 2021. For floricultural products only from Dutch origin, the earnings per euro of export value comes even to € 0,81.

On average, earnings on agricultural export in 2021 were € 0,41 per euro export value and € 0,58 when only goods of Dutch origin are taken into account.

Import into the Netherlands

The top 10 countries of origin when it comes to import, are mostly the same as the export destinations. Poland ranks 7th when it comes to country of origin related to the import value. The import value grew in 2022 to € 3,23 bln from € 2,44 bln in 2021. This is especially related to an increasing value of the import of meat.

Import agricultural related goods

Also when it comes to agricultural related goods, Poland is the 7th country of origin in terms of value of import into the Netherlands.