International Market Development

International market development | Comprehensive analysis of Belgium's economy and market conditions

Author : Bozhou Marine

Update time : 2020-12-28 14:38:25

In this article, we mainly introduce the basic situation of the Belgian market. Including: geographic location, major cities, population conditions, nationalities, major festivals, natural resources, major industries, infrastructure conditions, GDP, foreign exchange reserves, employment conditions, prices, corporate income tax, personal tax rates, etc.

  Introduction

The Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: België, French: Belgique, German: Belgien), referred to as "Belgium", is located on the western coast of Europe, bordering Germany to the east, the Netherlands to the north, France to the south, Luxembourg to the southeast, and the North Sea to the west Facing Britain across the sea.

Belgium is a highly developed capitalist country, one of the founding members of the European Union and NATO. It is also one of the world's top ten commodity importers and exporters, and foreign trade is the lifeblood of its economy. Belgium has an extremely complete industrial system and infrastructure such as ports, canals, railways and roads.

  Capital

Brussels (English: Brussels; French: Bruxelles) is the capital and largest city of Belgium. It is also the seat of the main administrative body of the European Union (EU, EU), the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, NATO), and the European capital Known as. It is also a city where daily meetings of more than 200 international administrative centers and more than 1,000 official groups are held.

Among the four main institutions of the European Union, the European Council, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union are located in Brussels. Another institution, the European Parliament, also has a branch in Brussels (the entire Parliament is in Strasbourg, France), so it has "Europe The reputation of "the capital".

  Main City

1. Brussels

With a population of 1.07 million and an area of 162 square kilometers, Brussels accounts for about one-tenth of the country's population. It is the largest city in Belgium. Located in the northern Flemish area and the southern French-speaking area, the two languages are used in urban streets and public advertisements, and the social language is mainly French. Brussels is the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. It has the most exquisite buildings and museums in Europe, with skyscrapers and medieval buildings complementing each other.

2. Bruges

Bruges is a famous tourist city in Belgium, located in the Flanders Plain in northwestern Belgium, 14 kilometers away from the North Sea. Bruges is known as "Venice of the North", "Sacred Land of Belgian Art", and "Flanders Pearl". The city has a beautiful scenery, row upon row of ancient houses, and still retains a strong medieval style. The urban area is surrounded by rivers, alleys crisscross, and there are canals leading to the outer harbor on the north coast. Whenever the tourist season comes, there is an endless stream of tourists who take a small boat to watch the whole picture of the water city.

3. Namur

Namur is a Belgian city with different styles, with canals, bridges, and charming castles. Ascend the castle and the entire city will be within your sight. Because of its location, it has often become the object of European powers competing for Germany in history. Namur, the capital of Namur Province, is located on the Meuse River and southeast of Brussels. It has important strategic significance and has become a battlefield for many sieges and battles. Namur is an excellent starting point for those who are going to explore the forest-covered Amountain area of the Wallonia region.

4. Liege

Located in the center of Europe, Liège has been a famous textile and metallurgical industrial zone since ancient times. In recent years, it has shifted from textiles, coal and steel to new diversified industries, such as electronics, biochemistry, aircraft engines, aerospace, Astrophysics etc. The traffic here is well developed, and the highway network is connected with major European cities. The conditions of the Meuse River port are also among the best in Europe.

5. Leuven

Leuven is the headquarters of InBev, the world's second largest beer company. The reason why it is famous is that it is the location of Leuven University, the oldest Catholic university in the world. The city is full of vigor and vitality all year round, because from July to October every year, a large number of young people from all over the world come here to study. People of all skin colors and speaking all kinds of languages can be seen everywhere on the street, making this city vibrant and charming.

Northern Lights Image | Pixabay

  Jet Lag

Belgium is 7 hours behind our country, with a 6-hour time difference in summer time (from March 21 to the last Sunday in October) and a 7-minute time difference in winter time.

  Population and Ethnicity

11.49 million (January 2020), Flemish people accounted for 58%; Walloonians accounted for 41%; Germans accounted for 1%. .

  Language

The official languages are Dutch, French and German.

  Main Holiday

New Year / January 1st
The first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox: Easter (the Monday after Easter is also closed)
International Labor Day / May 1st
Ascension Day / The first Thursday after 40 days of Easter /
Pentecost / Seventh Sunday after Easter / (Monday is also closed)
Flanders Memorial Day / July 11th
National Day / July
Assumption of Mary / August 15th
Wallonia Festival / September 27th
Halloween / November 1st
Armistice Day of the First World War / November 11th
King's Day / November 15th
Christmas / December 25th

Brussels square image | Pixabay

  Natural Resources

Belgium is poor in natural resources and highly dependent on foreign resources, with a small amount of iron, zinc, lead, and copper. As of 2014, Belgian coal reserves were 3.7 billion tons, of which 1.8 billion tons were worth mining. Since the 1980s, major coal mines in Belgium have ceased mining. In addition, there are a small amount of iron, zinc, lead, copper, etc. The forest area accounts for 23% of the land area. Belgium's crude oil and natural gas are completely dependent on imports, and the import dependence of primary energy consumption is close to 80%, which is significantly higher than the EU average. There are 7 nuclear power plants, accounting for 65% of the total power generation. The forest and green area cover an area of 6,070 square kilometers (2002).

Coal once made outstanding contributions to the economic development of Belgium, but it has been exhausted. 76% of the country's energy demand depends on imports. Oil resources are mainly imported from Russia, the Middle East and Norway. In 2018, 39.0% of its electric energy came from nuclear power, 35.4% came from petrifaction energy, and 25.6% relied on renewable energy such as biomass, solar, and wind energy. There are a small amount of iron, zinc, lead, and copper. The forest and green areas cover an area of 6,059 square kilometers.

  Main Industry

Chemical and life science industry

In addition to basic chemistry, this field also includes plastic and rubber processing, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, cosmetics, soap box cleaners, and paints and varnishes. The share of the chemical industry in the total Belgian economy is twice the EU average. More than 90,000 people are directly employed, accounting for 18% of all employment in Belgian manufacturing. Including indirect employees, the total is about 250,000.

The Belgian chemical industry is one of the most diverse and comprehensive chemical clusters in the world. Belgium is the world's second largest chemical and plastic industry cluster (mainly concentrated in the Port of Antwerp) after Houston. Eleven of the world's 15 largest chemical companies have established production bases in Belgium. In addition, Belgium has more than 200 companies active in the field of life sciences and has a unique life science industry cluster.

Food Industry

The food industry is the second largest industry in Belgium's processing industry. There are more than 120 breweries in Belgium, producing more than 1,000 kinds of beer. AB Inbev is the world’s largest beer producer, ranked 206th on the Fortune Global 500, with revenue of US$45.905 billion and profit of US$1.241 billion. It owns about 300 brands including Budweiser, Baker, Stella Artois, etc. , Headquartered in Leuven. In addition, there is also the food retailer Delhaize Group (Delhaize Group), which later merged with Ahold to become Royal Ahold Delhaize Group (Royal Ahold Delhaize), ranked 165th in the Fortune 500, with revenue of 549.55 It is headquartered in the Netherlands with a profit of US$917 million and a profit of US$917 million.

Auto Industry

Automobile manufacturing is an important industrial category in Belgium. It has assembly plants for Volvo, Audi and other world car brands, a Volvo truck assembly plant, two large bus manufacturing companies (Van Hool and VDL Jonckeere), and a number of trailer and body manufacturing companies. It assembles and produces 500,000 cars, 40,000 trucks, buses and buses every year, ranking first in the EU in terms of car production per capita. In addition, there are about 300 companies engaged in automotive research, design, testing and determination. Volvo's Belgian plant is its largest vehicle manufacturer. Since Geely Group took over, its output has grown steadily. In 2017, the Volvo Car Group's annual turnover increased by 16.6%, the profit margin increased from 6.1% in 2016 to 6.7%, and the global sales volume reached 572,000 vehicles.

Aerospace

Belgium is the world leader in aerospace. Many European aircraft and aircraft, including Airbus, Boeing, F-16 fighter jets, Rafale, Falcon 7X, Ariane 4 and 5 rocket launchers, and SPOT5 earth observation satellites, all use Belgian technology .

Renewable Energy

Belgian technology companies are among the world's leading companies in the field. One out of every three large wind farms (greater than 2 MW) in the world uses Belgian technology. More than 5% of the total EU solar cell technology research budget at IMEC Research Center; Umicore Group is a global government committed to investing heavily in green energy and renewable energy. Enterprises and consumers can enjoy the incentives of the federal government and regional governments . By 2020, Belgium's energy goal is to achieve 13% of energy supply from renewable energy sources and 33,000 employees in the industry.

   Infrastructure

Belgium has a sound and good infrastructure. The transportation network and the operation capacity of port facilities are among the best in Europe. There are convenient road, rail, water and air transportation with neighboring countries such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands, which can fully meet the requirements of foreign investors for the hardware environment.

Highway

The total length of national highways is 154,600 kilometers, of which 18,200 kilometers are expressways. Brussels is only 200-300 kilometers away from Paris, London, Amsterdam, Bonn and Luxembourg. The Chinese mainland driver's license can be used in Belgium, but it must be translated and certified before use.

Railway

The Belgian railway network is characterized by a high level of electrification, most of which are dual-track routes. The proportion of railways in land freight transportation is significantly lower than that of road transportation.

Air Transport

The Belgian air transport network connects 49 countries and 74 cities. In 2015, the Belgian air cargo volume was 1,464.32 (million tons-km), and the passenger volume was 11.19 million passengers. Shalowa International Airport is about one hour away from Brussels by car. It mainly operates charter flights to and from Greece, Tunisia and other places.

Water Transport

Belgium's waterway transportation is very developed, divided into maritime and inland waterway. There are 5 seaports for shipping. The Port of Antwerp is the second largest port in Europe. The Port of Zeebrugge is the largest gas port and liquefied petroleum gas import port in Europe, and the largest ro-ro port in Europe. Belgium's inland waterway navigation is also very convenient, with 7 inland river ports.

  Economic outlook continues to weaken

According to statistics from the Central Bank of Belgium, Belgium's GDP in 2019 was 443.464 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of only 1.4%.

Belgium GDP growth rate trend chart over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

According to quarterly adjustments, the Belgian economy fell 2.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020 and 3.6% month-on-month. Imports were 117.99 billion euros, down 9.9% year-on-year; exports were 125.69 billion euros, down 6.9% year-on-year.

The European Central Bank predicts that the GDP of the EU in 2020 will be -8.0%.

Overall increase in foreign exchange reserves

Trends of Belgium's foreign exchange reserves over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

Between 2010 and 2020, Belgium's foreign exchange reserves have shown an overall growth.

The latest data show that Belgium’s foreign exchange reserves have increased from 27.930 billion euros in August 2020 to 27.931 billion euros in September.

The overall growth of the employed population, the unemployment rate has been declining in recent years

The employment trend chart of Belgium over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 010 to 2019, the overall employment population in Belgium has shown an increase. Affected by the epidemic and blockade, the employment population will show a significant downward trend in 2020.

The latest data shows that the number of people employed in Belgium has decreased from 4.172 million in the first quarter of 2020 to 4.124 million in the second quarter of 2020.

Belgian unemployment rate trend graph over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2013 to 2016, the unemployment rate in Belgium was relatively high, fluctuating between 8%-9%, and it continued to decline after 2016. Affected by the epidemic, there is a slight upward trend this year.

The latest data show that the unemployment rate in Belgium rose from 5.10% in August 2020 to 5.20% in September.

Prices continue to rise and the inflation rate fluctuates greatly

Belgian Consumer Price Index CPI Trends over the Years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2010 to 2020, the Belgian price index continued to rise.

The latest data show that Belgium’s consumer price index rose from 109.42 points in September 2020 to 109.64 points in October.

Belgium's inflation rate trend chart over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

From 2010 to 2020, the Belgian inflation rate fluctuated greatly. In 2015, it fell to a negative number. In recent years, it has basically fluctuated between 0% and 3%.

The latest data shows that Belgium’s inflation rate fell from 0.90% in September 2020 to 0.74% in October.

Corporate income tax rate 29%

Belgian corporate income tax trends over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2020, the Belgian corporate income tax rate is 29%.

Personal income tax rate 50%

Personal income tax trends in Belgium over the years | TRADING ECONOMICS

In 2020, the Belgian personal income tax rate is 50%.

www.bozhou-int.com

Previous : International market development | Comprehensive analysis of Austria's economy and market conditions

Next : International market development | Comprehensive analysis of Swedish economy and market conditions