Trade glossary · mechanics

Re-exports

Goods imported into a country and then exported in the same form, without significant transformation. Inflates trade volumes for hub economies like Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

A re-export is recorded as both an import and an export by the hub country, even though no value-added processing occurred locally. Hong Kong's reported trade roughly equals its GDP many times over, almost entirely driven by re-exports of mainland Chinese goods. Statisticians sometimes publish "domestic exports" alongside total exports to separate the two.

Examples

  • Hong Kong: re-exports represent ~95% of total goods exports.
  • Singapore: heavy re-export volumes via the port.
  • Netherlands: Rotterdam handles re-exports of EU-bound goods reaching Europe by sea.

Related terms

Entrepôt trade
Trade through a hub port or warehouse where goods are stored and re-exported. Common in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Netherlands (Rotterdam), and the UAE.
Transit trade
Goods that pass through a country en route to a third country, without entering the local market.