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The Netherlands, as a Member State of the European Union (EU), conforms to all EU regulations and directives. However, rules for the certification of imports are complicated and, in practice, are not always harmonized across EU Member States. This report lists the recent developments related to Dutch import requirements for the certification of agricultural and food imports.

The exporter guide provides an economic and market overview, as well as demographic trends and practical tips for U.S. exporters on how to conduct business in the Netherlands.

There are new export opportunities for oysters grown in Massachusetts and Washington since the EU lifted its import ban on live, chilled, frozen, and processed bivalve mollusks from the United States. As part of the equivalency arrangement between the EU and the United States, the U.S. market will now also be open for Dutch oysters, creating a win-win.

The Netherlands is increasingly becoming one of Europe’s leading importers and exporters of seafood products. The United States was the Netherlands’ 15th largest foreign supplier of seafood in 2021. U.S. exports were dominated by frozen Alaskan Pollock (AP) which represented two-thirds of U.S. seafood trade to the Netherlands.

Since October 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality has reported 37 findings of avian influenza at commercial poultry farms in the Netherlands. One of the most recent findings is in the municipality of Barneveld, which is considered the poultry capital of the Netherlands. Both the global Covid-19 crisis and local avian influenza outbreaks have had a negative effect on Dutch exports.

In 2019, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport announced a new nutrition labeling scheme for the Netherlands. Nutri-Score, an invention commissioned by French public health agency Santé Publique, would become the new voluntary front-of-pack nutrition label of choice in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands, as a Member State of the European Union (EU), conforms to all EU regulations and directives. However, rules for the certification of imports are complicated and, in practice, are not always harmonized across EU Member States.

This report is an addendum to GAIN report number E42021-0072, the EU Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) Report, dated October 12, 2021. It is meant to be read in tandem with the aforementioned report and lists the Dutch import regulations and standards that are not harmonized within the EU, or where the Netherlands varies from the EU standards.

The exporter guide provides an economic and market overview, as well as demographic trends and practical tips to U.S. exporters on how to conduct business in the Netherlands. The report additionally describes three market sectors (food retail, food...

The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark) are key markets for U.S. craft beer and distilled spirits. In 2020, the United States shipped $26 million of beer products and $66 million of distilled spirits to the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.

Hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) foodservice industry sales in the Netherlands in 2020 were valued at nearly $9.9 billion, down by more than one-third when compared to 2019, because of the closure of many outlets for a prolonged period due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, Dutch wood pellet imports reached a new high, totaling $511 million. The United States was the leading non-European Union (EU) supplier to the Netherlands.