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Trade between the Netherlands and South Korea

In 2024, the Netherlands exported $8.4 billion to South Korea and imported $5.6 billion. The Netherlands ran a surplus of $2.8 billion with South Korea, compared with a surplus of $49 million in 2019. South Korea was the Netherlands’ 16th largest trading partner (1% of its trade), and the Netherlands was South Korea’s 21st (1%).

Summary

Netherlands → South Korea
$8.4billion
South Korea → Netherlands
$5.6billion
The Netherlands’ balance
$2.8billion

Balance

The Netherlands’ trade balance with South Korea

Trade between the Netherlands and South Korea grew 5.8-fold since 1995

USD billions (current). The Netherlands’ exports and imports; bars: its balance (green surplus, red deficit).

  • Exports 8.4
  • Imports 5.6
  • Balance +2.8

Source: CEPII BACI

Show the numbers
YearExportsImportsTrade balance
1995$1.1 billion$1.3 billion-$137 million
1996$1.3 billion$1.6 billion-$273 million
1997$1.3 billion$1.3 billion$2 million
1998$905 million$1.8 billion-$868 million
1999$1.1 billion$1.8 billion-$740 million
2000$1.2 billion$2.4 billion-$1.2 billion
2001$1.1 billion$2.5 billion-$1.4 billion
2002$1.3 billion$2.2 billion-$907 million
2003$1.5 billion$2.4 billion-$905 million
2004$1.8 billion$3 billion-$1.2 billion
2005$2.8 billion$3.5 billion-$692 million
2006$2.9 billion$3.6 billion-$681 million
2007$3.8 billion$4.3 billion-$531 million
2008$3.5 billion$3.9 billion-$390 million
2009$2.5 billion$4.7 billion-$2.3 billion
2010$4.2 billion$5 billion-$818 million
2011$5 billion$3.4 billion$1.6 billion
2012$4 billion$3.7 billion$233 million
2013$4.4 billion$4.1 billion$228 million
2014$4.8 billion$5.7 billion-$884 million
2015$4.4 billion$4.3 billion$179 million
2016$4.4 billion$3.4 billion$961 million
2017$6.4 billion$4.3 billion$2.1 billion
2018$7 billion$4.6 billion$2.4 billion
2019$4.4 billion$4.3 billion$49 million
2020$6.3 billion$4.9 billion$1.4 billion
2021$9.4 billion$5.8 billion$3.6 billion
2022$8.5 billion$7.2 billion$1.3 billion
2023$8.3 billion$5.6 billion$2.6 billion
2024$8.4 billion$5.6 billion$2.8 billion

What they sell each other

What the Netherlands sells to South Korea

The top 10 headings in 2024, with their share of the total.

  1. Other industrial machines$5.5 billion · 65%
    4 thousand tonnes
  2. Mounted lenses and objectives$285 million · 3.4%
    32 tonnes
  3. Pork$139 million · 1.7%
    32 thousand tonnes · the Netherlands’ destinations
  4. Refined petroleum$138 million · 1.6%
    174 thousand tonnes · the Netherlands’ destinations
  5. Turbojets and gas turbines$121 million · 1.4%
    60 tonnes · the Netherlands’ destinations
  6. Whey$109 million · 1.3%
    40 thousand tonnes
  7. Trucks$97 million · 1.2%
    8 thousand tonnes · the Netherlands’ destinations
  8. Electron microscopes$91 million · 1.1%
    156 tonnes
  9. Other measuring instruments$60 million · 0.71%
    83 tonnes
  10. Open-chain hydrocarbons$54 million · 0.64%
    37 thousand tonnes

What South Korea sells to the Netherlands

The top 10 headings in 2024, with their share of the total.

  1. Cars$850 million · 15.3%
    52 thousand tonnes · South Korea’s destinations
  2. Discs and storage media$418 million · 7.5%
    298 tonnes
  3. Other industrial machines$369 million · 6.6%
    855 tonnes
  4. Cameras and broadcast equipment$255 million · 4.6%
    697 tonnes
  5. Vaccines, blood and antisera$215 million · 3.9%
    63 tonnes · South Korea’s destinations
  6. Refined petroleum$195 million · 3.5%
    241 thousand tonnes · South Korea’s destinations
  7. Computer and office machine parts$170 million · 3.1%
    2 thousand tonnes
  8. Mounted lenses and objectives$158 million · 2.8%
    156 tonnes
  9. Air conditioners$141 million · 2.5%
    8 thousand tonnes · South Korea’s destinations
  10. Ferroalloys$131 million · 2.4%
    11 thousand tonnes · the Netherlands’ sources

How it travels

Estimated sea route from Rotterdam to Busan.

The estimated sea route between Rotterdam and Busan is 14,531 nautical miles (26,911 km) long: ≈ 33.5–43 days at sea (at 18 and 14 knots).

Because of the 2024 disruptions, traffic is split: 85% via the Strait of Dover, the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Malacca and Singapore (14,531 nautical miles); and 15% via the Strait of Dover, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Malacca and Singapore (11,088 nautical miles).

Sailing estimate without port calls, waiting or transshipment; not a schedule. One main reference port per country: in large countries it does not represent all of its ports.

Split by transport mode

  1. Sea$4.7 billion · 33.8%
  2. Air$9.2 billion · 66.2%

Mode estimated from value per kilo and geography; both directions together.

How much each matters to the other

South Korea was the Netherlands’ 16th largest trading partner (1% of its trade), and the Netherlands was South Korea’s 21st (1%).

South Korea in the Netherlands’ trade
1.2%
South Korea’s rank among the Netherlands’ partners
16th
The Netherlands in South Korea’s trade
1%
The Netherlands’ rank among South Korea’s partners
21st

Compare with

Other partners of the Netherlands

Other partners of South Korea

Sources and methodology

Sources and licenses

Methodology

Goods trade from CEPII BACI (BACI_HS92_V202601), in current US dollars, with exports and imports reconciled between countries. The transport mode is our own estimate based on value per kilo and geography. The sea route comes from our own network derived from World Bank shipping density (not from nautical charts), between one main reference port per country (World Port Index); days are the distance at 14 and 18 knots, without port calls or waiting. Data up to 2024.

Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Belgium re-export goods from other countries: their figures include transit.