External Trade of the Czech Republic

Commentary

Exports of machinery and imports of mineral fuels up markedly

According to preliminary data, both exports and imports seasonally adjusted increased by 11.8% and 8.6% month-on-month, respectively.

In July, current price exports rose faster than imports (+27.0% and +18.8% year-on-year, respectively). Due to the appreciation of the Czech koruna against the US dollar and against the euro, external trade grew faster both in terms of US dollars (exports +38.5% and imports +29.6%) and in terms of euros (exports +28.5% and imports +20.2%) than external trade valued in Czech korunas.
The trade balance ended in a deficit of CZK 4.9 billion (trade with EU member states reached surplus CZK 12.7 billion and trade with non-EU states ran deficit 17.6 billion), which amounts to a y-o-y decrease of CZK 6.9 billion. This is the lowest deficit recorded in July since 1995. Favourable development occurred mainly in trade in ’machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus increased by CZK 15.3 billion), but also in ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit decreased by CZK 1.2 billion, particularly due to lower imports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products) and ‘food and live animals’ (deficit decreased by CZK 1.0 billion). On the other hand, the balance deteriorated considerably in trade in petroleum and petroleum products (deficit increased by CZK 5.3 billion, especially due to increasing prices). The CZK 1.2 billion surplus of trade in semi-finished products and materials turned into a CZK 2.5 billion deficit.
The high surplus of trade in machines was affected particularly by higher exports of industrial machinery (+75.9%), parts and accessories of motor vehicles (+15.2%), electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances (+30.0%), telecommunications equipment (+69.2%) and metalworking machinery (+36.8%). At the same time, imports of metalworking machinery went down (-30.3%) and so did imports of computers (-24.7%).
By group of countries, the biggest improvements were reported for trade with EU member states (surplus by CZK 8.2 billion higher), of which especially for trade with Germany (CZK 0.3 billion deficit turned into CZK 8.5 billion surplus), Belgium (CZK 0.1 billion deficit turned into CZK 1.5 billion surplus), Hungary (CZK 0.1 billion deficit turned into CZK 1.4 billion surplus) and Austria (surplus by CZK 1.2 billion higher); on the other hand, the balance deteriorated in trade with Poland (CZK 0.4 billion surplus turned into CZK 3.5 billion deficit) and the United Kingdom (surplus by CZK 0.8 billion lower). Deficit grew in trade with non-EU states (by CZK 1.3 billion), of which most in trade with Japan (by CZK 1.2 billion) and China (by CZK 0.6 billion).

Over last twelve months, exports were 17.8% up and imports 16.0% up and the trade gap totalling CZK 55.8 billion was by CZK 12.8 billion down on the preceding twelve months.
Surplus grew in trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (+CZK 37.2 billion) and ‘miscellaneous consumer articles‘ (+CZK 1.5 billion). At the same time, deficit increased particularly in trade in ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 13.8 billion) and ‘mineral fuels and related materials’ (by CZK 3.4 billion).
By group of countries, surplus grew in trade with EU member states by CZK 47.8 billion, of which in trade with the Germany by CZK 30.1 billion, Austria by CZK 11.2 billion and Slovakia by CZK 10.1 billion. Deficit rose in trade with non-EU states (by CZK 35.0 billion), of which especially in trade with China (by CZK 17.3 billion) and Japan (by CZK 12.5 billion).
January-July 2004 exports and imports increased by 22.3% and 17.7% year-on-year, respectively. The trade deficit reached CZK 15.6 billion, which was CZK 14.1 billion down y-o-y.

The CZSO has carried out the regular quarterly update: the 2003 final data say that trade deficit was up CZK 0.4 billion; according to updated results, the trade balance turned from CZK 0.9 billion deficit to CZK 0.6 billion surplus in the first quarter of 2004 and deficit grew by CZK 0.5 billion in the second quarter of 2004.

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According to the communication from the Directorate General of Customs, the data were obtained from 96.2% of firms out of the total of 19 804 firms obliged to provide data within the Intrastat system. As far as large firms are concerned (firms whose value of annual exports or imports in trade with EU member states exceeded CZK 100 million in 2003), the response was 98.2% (data from 44 firms were missing). This results were thus somewhat better compared to the collection of data for June.
Data for the firms that failed to report and data for the firms exempted from the reporting duty (firms whose value of annual trade with EU member states was below CZK 4 million for dispatched goods and CZK 2 million for received goods) were imputed. The imputation methods were based on the data the firms supplied in the previous period (see the methodology).