page_title: Limburg (Netherlands)
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Limburg (Netherlands) / Economy
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Obstbaumblüte im Naturpark Obst-Hügel-Land (Finklham)
context_page_description: Limburg is the southernmost of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. The province is in the southeastern part of the country, stretched out from the north, where it touches the province of Gelderland. Its northern part has the province of North Brabant to its west. Its long eastern boundary is the international border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Much of the west border runs along the River Maas, bordering the Flemish province which is also named Limburg. On the south end it borders the Walloon province of Liège. The Vaalserberg is on the extreme south-eastern point, marking the tripoint of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
  Limburg's major cities are the provincial capital Maastricht, as well as Venlo in the Northeast, and Sittard-Geleen and Heerlen in the south. More than half of the population, approximately 650,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to roughly one-third of the province's area proper. In South Limburg, most people live in the urban agglomerations of Maastricht, Parkstad and Sittard-Geleen.
  Limburg has a highly distinctive character.
context_section_description: The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 44.5 billion € in 2018, accounting for 5.7% of the Netherlands economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 34,700 € or 115% of the EU27 average in the same year.
  In the past peat and coal were mined in Limburg. In 1965–75 the coal mines were finally closed. As a result, 60,000 people lost their jobs in the two coal mining areas, Heerlen-Kerkrade-Brunssum and Sittard-Geleen. A difficult period of economic readjustment started. The Dutch government partly eased the pain by moving several government offices (including Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP and CBS Statistics Netherlands) to Heerlen.
  The state-owned corporation that once mined in Limburg, DSM, is now a major chemical company, still operating in Limburg. In 2002 DSM sold its petrochemical division (naphtha crackers and polyolefin plants) to SABIC of Saudi Arabia. In 2010, the agro and melamine business groups were sold to OCI Nitrogen. SABIC is located on the Chemelot campus in Sittard-Geleen, which is bounded by the Chemelot Industrial Park, one of Western Europe's biggest industrial sites. At this moment 8000 people work at Chemelot, of which 1000 are active at the Campus. The innovation and licensing division Stamicarbon of DSM was sold in 2009 to Maire Tecnimont, the parent company of an engineering, main contracting and licensing group that operates worldwide in the oil, gas & petrochemicals, power, infrastructure and civil engineering sectors. Stamicarbon is based in Sittard-Geleen.
  VDL Nedcar in Born (Sittard-Geleen) is the only large-scale car manufacturer in the Netherlands, currently manufacturing MINI's and BMW X1's. Other industries include Rockwool in Roermond, Océ copiers and printers manufacturers in Venlo and a paper factory in Maastricht. There are four large beer breweries in Limburg.
  Southern Limburg has long been one of the country's two main fruit growing areas, but over the last four decades, many fruit growing areas have been replaced by water as a result of gravel quarrying near the Meuse.
  Tourism is an essential sector of the economy, especially in the hilly southern part of the province. The town of Valkenburg is the main centre.
  In 2005, the two provincial newspapers, De Limburger and Limburgs Dagblad, merged.
caption: Blooming fruit trees, a tourist attraction in the Southern part of Limburg
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