Brussels and the world: foreign trade recovery

After a year marked by the Covid crisis, Brussels’ exports of goods and services rebounded in 2021, with an increase of 8.7% compared to 2020. Brussels’ imports also increased by 17.3% between 2020 and 2021, which means that Brussels’ trade balance is -8 billion euros, 19% more than in 2019 and 27% more than in 2020.  

Europe, the largest trading partner 

Europe remains Brussels’ main trading partner, with a share of 85.1% of Brussels’ exports (representing 6.8 million euros). It is followed by the American continent (7.8%) and the Asian continent (4.6%). The main export and import partners for Brussels goods remain Germany, France and the Netherlands. Germany is the leading destination country for Brussels exports, with an increase in exports of around 32%. For imports, neighbouring countries remain the most important, followed by Italy, Spain and Hungary. A notable trend is the increase in trade relations with Norway (+986%, +35 places compared to 2020). 

Transport equipment and chemical industry 

The largest export sectors for goods remain the same, despite small fluctuations in value. Transport equipment remains the most important with a share of 40.1%, followed by products of chemical or related industries with a share of 25.3%, and machinery and electrical appliances with a share of 7.4%.

In addition, rubber and plastics rose to fourth place with a share of 6.1% of total merchandise exports. It should be noted that exports of transport equipment decreased significantly in the second half of 2021. This is largely due to the shortage of semiconductors, which has led to a decline in production and sales of new vehicles. 

As for imports of Brussels goods, machinery and electrical appliances remain important, accounting for 26 percent of exports (up 23.3 percent from 2020), transport equipment is the second largest category with 24.6 percent, and products of the chemical or related industries come in third with a 14 percent market share. 

Services exports  

In general, services exports account for more than half of total Brussels exports (57.3% or 28.5 billion euros) and about 26.8% of Belgian services exports. Scientific and technical activities (28%), financial and insurance activities (28%) and the information and communication sector (12%) account for the largest shares of Belgian services exports (there are no existing data at regional level). These products are exported mainly to the Netherlands, France and Germany. Outside Europe, the United States, Singapore, China, Russia and Japan were the main service partners.