The Netherlands used to play an important strategic role in the transit of products to the United Kingdom. Since Brexit, however, the Netherlands has become much less important as a stacking market. This has led to a decline in exports from the Netherlands to the UK, including those of plants and flowers. More flowers from Kenya, Colombia and Ethiopia are now travelling to the UK directly.
On 23 June 2016, a majority of the British voted in an advisory referendum to leave the European Union. Subsequently, in 2017, the British government announced its intention to leave. Three years and more than seven months later, the time had come: the British exit from the EU became a fact on 31 January 2020. Rabobank economist Lize Nauta and Rabobank data scientist Jeffrey Powell wondered what impact Brexit had had on Dutch exports to the UK. One of the conclusions of their research is that a smaller portion of Dutch exports now goes to the UK, dropping from approximately 8% before Brexit to around 6% since Brexit.
