Russia and the Netherlands: Trade cooperation within the global value chains framework

Abstract

Russia and the Netherlands are crucial trading partners for each other and those countries have enduring trade history, during which there were both periods of “cooling” and “thawing” in trade and investment. Against the background of a global decline in trade and FDI flows, the issue of global production and global value chains (GVCs) cooperation, in particular Russian-Dutch cooperation, is becoming more relevant. Thus, this study aims to determine current trends and features of trade cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands using the decomposition of gross value added (VA) flows, since the analysis of trade in terms of GVCs allows one to more accurately determine the directions and structure of international trade. This issue becomes especially urgent in context of the international production fragmentation slowing down since GVCs, among other things, more accurately illustrate trade and production ties and the interdependence of the world’s economies. The article will consider the general characteristics of trade relations between Russia and the Netherlands in terms of gross trade indicators, determine the place of Russia and the Netherlands in the ranking of their trading partners, show the dynamics of trade and FDI, and also identify the main areas of cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands within the GVC framework with the help of sectoral analysis of VA trade. As a result of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that Russia and the Netherlands, firstly, are involved to varying degrees in GVCs, secondly, they participate in opposite directions within GVC flows, which is why they do not equally benefit from participation in global production, thirdly, mutual trade within the framework of the GVC is “one-sided” and unbalanced, and, fourthly, the export and industrial production of the Netherlands relies on Russian intermediate goods in a bigger extent than Russian exporting industries relies on the Dutch once.