The first question is usually “what does a square metre cost?”. That is the worst possible starting point. Rent accounts for 15–25% of the total cost of a warehousing and fulfilment operation. Labour accounts for 40–55%. And labour costs differ across these five countries by a factor of two and a half — not by a few percent, but by 150%.
The table below compares five locations on the factors that genuinely drive the annual bill: rent, labour cost, availability of import VAT deferment, and real drive and delivery times. Every figure is sourced at the bottom of this page.
| Criterion | Poland (Lower Silesia) | Germany | Netherlands | Belgium | Italy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime asking rent, €/sq m/month | 4,00–5,00 | 7,50–10,50 | 7,00–8,50 | 5,50–6,50 | 5,50–6,50 |
| Labour cost, €/hour (Eurostat 2025) | 19,1 | 45,0 | 47,9 | 48,2* | 32,0 |
| Labour cost relative to Poland | 1,0× | 2,4× | 2,5× | 2,5× | 1,7× |
| Import VAT deferment | yes — art. 33a | no | yes — art. 23 | yes — ET 14000 | limited |
| Drive time to western Germany (truck) | 8–9 h | 0–4 h | 2–3 h | 3–4 h | 10–12 h |
| D2C delivery: Germany / Italy | D+2 / D+3 | D+1 / D+3 | D+2 / D+3 | D+2 / D+3 | D+3 / D+1 |
| Best suited for | Asian volume, EU-wide sales | German market, 24 h service | ports, fast re-export | ports, Benelux | Italian and southern market |
* Belgium: Eurostat has not released 2025 data; the 2024 figure is shown. Rents are asking rates for Grade A space in each country’s principal hubs; in Poland the effective rent after landlord incentives is typically 20–30% below the asking rate. Service charges (€1.5–2.5/sq m/month) are broadly similar across these markets and do not change the ranking.
Three numbers that settle the decision
Labour, not rent
A 5,000 sq m warehouse run by 15 people: the labour cost gap between Poland and the Netherlands is around €800,000 a year. The rent gap is around €200,000. Four times smaller.
Import VAT
In Poland (art. 33a), the Netherlands (art. 23) and Belgium (ET 14000) the importer accounts for VAT in the return instead of paying it at clearance. In Germany it is paid up front and recovered months later. On a €200,000 container that is €38,000 of working capital tied up on every shipment.
Reach, not distance
From Lower Silesia a truck reaches the Ruhr within one driver shift, and a parcel reaches a German consumer on D+2. For e-commerce, D+2 from Poland and D+1 from Germany sit on the same shelf in the customer’s mind — at a two-and-a-half-fold cost difference.
Five markets in brief
Poland
The lowest labour cost and the lowest rent of the five. Lower Silesia lies 150 km from the German border on the A4 motorway — the same corridor in which SHEIN and TEMU built their European hubs.
+ Best cost-to-reach ratio in the EU
− Further from the North Sea ports
Germany
Europe’s largest consumer market with D+1 delivery nationwide. The price is the highest rent in this group and no import VAT deferment.
+ Unbeatable delivery time into DE
− Rent and labour 2.4× Poland
Netherlands
Rotterdam, Venlo and art. 23 — a combination built for getting goods into the EU fast and re-exporting them. The convenience comes with the third-highest labour cost in the entire Union.
+ Best import and re-export handling
− Labour at €47.9/h — 2.5× Poland
Belgium
Antwerp is Europe’s second port and ET 14000 works much like the Dutch art. 23. Rents are lower than in the Netherlands, but labour cost is the highest in this comparison.
+ Port + deferred VAT, cheaper than NL
− Highest labour cost of the five
Italy
Makes sense when Italy is the destination market rather than a transhipment point. Labour is clearly cheaper than in Western Europe, but logistics to Germany and Benelux crosses the Alps.
+ Cheapest euro-area labour in this group
− Cut off from the northern corridor
When each country wins
Goods from Asia, sales across the EU — Poland. Labour 2.4–2.5× cheaper than Germany and Benelux, deferred VAT, D+2 to Germany and D+3 to Italy. This is the scenario where the gap is widest.
90% of turnover in Germany, next-day promise — Germany. If D+1 is part of the product, you cannot buy it cheaper elsewhere.
High import volume with re-export outside the EU — The Netherlands or Belgium. Art. 23 and ET 14000 plus port proximity only outweigh the labour cost at genuinely large container volumes.
Italian market and southern Europe — Italy — but for that market only. Serving Germany from Italy adds a day of transit and the cost of crossing the Alps.
You do not yet know where demand will be — Poland. The lowest cost of being wrong: at this level of rent and labour, changing strategy after a year costs the least.
Where these figures come from
Labour cost: Eurostat, dataset lc_lci_lev, 2025 (Belgium: 2024), whole economy, enterprises with 10 or more employees. Rents: public 2026 market reports (including CBRE European Logistics Outlook 2026 and the GARBE Pyramid Map) together with our own read of the Lower Silesian market. VAT rules: art. 33a of the Polish VAT Act, art. 23 Wet OB (NL), ET 14000 authorisation (BE). Transit times: standard drive times and carriers’ published delivery commitments. Figures are indicative — an actual quotation depends on location, size and lease term.