Chemical portal to Europe

Strong chemical community + high level of technology = business acceleration

Major driver of the Dutch economy

The chemical sector plays a significant role within the Dutch economy. The turnover of the chemical industry, following the sharp decline in 2009, almost returned to the previous levels before the recession. In 2010, the turnover was € 47 billion. This represents an increase of 25% compared to 2009. This increase was partly due to higher sales prices. The sector (including the rubber and plastics industry) continued to make a major contribution to the Dutch Gross Domestic Product of almost 3%. The industry employs some 64,000 people.

Regional powerhouse: Hub to Europe

About three quarters of the chemical products produced in the Netherlands are exported. Around 80% of this is to countries within Europe. Total exports, went up by more than 19% in 2010 compared to 2009. A noticeable development was the increase in exports to the United States by more than 25% and the increase in exports to Belgium by more than 29%. (Re-)Exports in the Dutch chemical industry totalled around 71 billion Euro. That is more than 19% of all good exports from the Netherlands. Imports rose by more than 16% to € 51 billion in 2010. The chemical industry (including the rubber and plastics industries) made a positive contribution of almost 20 billion Euro to the trade balance in 2010, which is 51% of the total balance of trade (goods) in the Netherlands. For more facts & figures please visit the website of the Netherlands Chemical Industry Association (VNCI).

With 175 million consumers, Europe is an attractive market. Numerous different laws, standards and rules relating to the storage and transport of hazardous goods, however, make Europe a complex market, too. Fortunately there is one organization that knows its way through this high-opportunity but complex European market: ELCHEMS (European Logistic CHEMical Specialists). ELCHEMS, an initiative of NDL/HIDC (Holland International Distribution Council), is a platform of logistic services providers, specializing in chemical logistics. Find out more.

Strong chemical Community

The chemical industry is particularly strong, due to trade and investment links to Europe and the rest of the world. However, there is more: one particularly competitive aspect of the Dutch chemical industry is its integrated nature. For example, chemical companies purchase from – and supply to – one another. They also work together in public-private partnerships on innovation and production and regional clustering. As a whole, the clusters are more competitive than the individual companies put together. Interesting examples of strong regional clusters are the industrial biotech/specialty chemical cluster in south-west Netherlands; the high performance materials/specialty chemicals cluster in south-east Netherlands; and the industrial biotech/high performance materials cluster in north-east Netherlands.

Technology: value through integration and innovation

Within the strong chemical community, companies, knowledge institutions and the government work together on technology. It’s an innovative sector, with roughly two-thirds of companies delivering product and process innovations and 1.3 billion Euro on R&D investments. The chemical industry in the Netherlands spends around 2.5% of its turnover on research and development in-house. Interesting examples of open innovation are the Centres for Open Chemical Innovation (COCI), in which established companies – as well as start-ups and small businesses – develop innovative ideas and test their feasibility. These companies use the infrastructure, services and expertise of the companies present. Examples are Chemelot, Plant ONE and and the Green Chemistry Campus. One example of the strength in working together is the industry-wide innovation programme that was launched in 2007 with the goal to double GDP and cut CO2 emission by half. This programme was developed through intense co-operation between the most important partners in government, academia and the private sector. This has resulted in public-private partnerships like BE-Basic: Bio-Based, Ecologically Balanced Sustainable Industrial Chemistry; the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology; the Dutch Polymer Institute; and the TASC innovation programme.