Fifth spot on world exporters list for the Netherlands

GENEVA – A small country does not necessarily rate as small or insignificant in any or all situations and not every statistic tells the whole story. Case in point is the ranking of the Netherlands as an exporter. While the Netherlands’ economy is about 15th in the world, certainly an impressive size, its ranking as exporter is still more remarkable: with $634 billion it stands fifth on the list, behind Germany ($1465 billion), China ($1428 billion), the U.S. ($1301 billion) and Japan ($702 billion). France came in sixth with $609 billion, Belgium eight, the U.K. tenth and Canada eleventh. It is expected that China will replace Germany as the largest exporter this year. The Dutch ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are significant contributors to the global ranking of the Netherlands.