The given figures show the amount of exports, measured in millions of tonnes, that Rotterdam port enabled to go to different parts of the world between 2002 and 2012, together with the percentage of tax that the recipient countries levied.
A broad analysis shows that exports to the Asia Pacific and Australasia regions have increased while those to the USA and Europe have slightly decreased. Throughout the course of the decade, tax rates varied significantly throughout various destinations.
In examining the export figures, it is noted that the total exports from Rotterdam increased from 17,150 million tonnes in 2002 to 18,600 million tonnes in 2012. The volume of exports to Europe, the largest recipient, decreased from 6,900 million tonnes to 6,400 million tonnes, while exports to the USA fell from 4,200 million tonnes to 3,900 million tonnes. On the other hand, exports to Australasia increased from 700 million tonnes to 2,300 million tonnes, while exports to the Asia Pacific region increased significantly from 800 million tonnes to 2,550 million tonnes. The shipments to ‘Other’ regions, however, stayed constant at 350 million tonnes during the course of the decade, notwithstanding these changes.
Moving on to the taxation imposed by the countries of destination, the table shows changing patterns over the course of a decade. Europe’s tax rate was reported as 5% in 2002; by 2012, that figure had risen to 8%. The United States of America saw a drop in taxation from 3% to 2%.In the interim, the tax rate in Latin America increased from 1% to 2%, while the tax rate in China jumped from 0% to 2%. It’s interesting to observe that tax rates in Australasia fell from 4% to under 1%, while those in the Asia Pacific region reduced marginally from 5% to 2%.