External Trade of the Czech Republic

Commentary

Contents

According to preliminary data, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 0.4% and imports fell by 5.2% month-on-month. The trend component rose by 0.3% in exports and by 0.6% in imports (Table 6, Graphs 1 and 2).

In terms of year-on-year comparison, exports and imports at current prices were up by 5.0% and 2.7%, respectively. Due to the development of exchange rate of the koruna, external trade rose faster in terms of euros (exports +11.3%, imports +8.9%) than in dollars (exports +7.1%, imports +4.8%).
The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 1.8 billion, which was by CZK 3.5 billion better result than in October 2004 and the first surplus ever recorded in October in the history of the Czech Republic. Trade balance with the EU member states was active by CZK 24.5 billion and with the non-EU states passive by CZK 22.7 billion.

The improvement of the balance was most markedly contributed to by a CZK 7.3 billion increase in surplus of trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ and a CZK 1.4 billion decrease in deficit of ‘food and live animals’. Trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 2.5 billion), ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 2.5 billion) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 1.3 billion) affected the balance unfavourably.

The total exports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were higher by 7.9%. On the increase were particularly exports of ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ (+20.8%), ‘road vehicles’ (+19.5%) and ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’ (+15.3%), while exports dropped of ‘telecommunications and sound-recording equipment’ (-16.8%) and of ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (-5.6%). Imports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were down by 1.2% in total, of which the highest decreases were recorded for ‘metalworking machinery’ (-22.1%) and ‘machinery specialized for particular industries’ (-8.9%). In particular, imports of ‘power-generating machinery and equipment’ (+22.9%) and ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ (+6.2%) grew.

The growth of imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 24.7% was mainly influenced by higher imports of crude petroleum (+43.0% in terms of value, +0.8% in terms of volume) and natural gas (+62.9% in terms of value, +6.4% in terms of volume). The decrease in surplus of trade in ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ was notably contributed to by deterioration of the balance of trade in iron and steel (-CZK 1.5 billion).
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states grew by CZK 3.5 billion and deficit with the non-EU states remained unchanged. Balance improved particularly in trade with the United States (the CZK 1.3 billion deficit turned into a CZK 0.3 billion surplus), Poland (the CZK 0.6 billion deficit turned into a surplus of CZK 0.7 billion), Switzerland (the CZK 0.5 billion deficit turned into a CZK 0.5 billion surplus), Spain (surplus up by CZK 1.0 billion) and Slovakia (surplus up by CZK 0.9 billion). Balance deteriorated in trade with Germany (surplus down by CZK 2.0 billion), Russia (deficit up by CZK 1.7 billion), China (deficit up by CZK 0.9 billion) and Norway (deficit up by CZK 0.8 billion).

Over last twelve months, compared to the preceding twelve months, exports and imports grew by 11.8% and 6.8%, respectively. The total trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 34.7 billion, which was an improvement of CZK 80.1 billion.

Trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 85.5 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus up by CZK 15.4 billion), ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit down by CZK 7.8 billion) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ (surplus up by CZK 2.4 billion) had a favourable effect on the development of the trade balance. Deficits rose of trade in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 30.5 billion), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (by CZK 0.4 billion), and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (by CZK 0.4 billion).

By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states was by CZK 63.7 higher. Balance improved in trade with France (CZK +20.5 billion), Germany (CZK +14.9 billion), Slovakia (CZK +14.6 billion), Poland (CZK +8.1 billion) and Spain (CZK +7.3 billion). Balance deteriorated in trade with the Netherlands (CZK -23.4 billion) and Sweden (CZK -2.7 billion). Trade deficit with the non-EU states decreased by CZK 16.4 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with the United States (CZK +14.0 billion), Malaysia (CZK +3.9 billion), the Ukraine (CZK +2.1 billion) and China (CZK +1.2 billion). Balance worsened in trade with Russia (CZK -15.8 billion), Turkey (CZK -3.2 billion) and Norway (CZK -1.8 billion).

In January-October 2005, exports and imports grew by 8.8% and 4.4%, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 44.0 billion, compared to the deficit of CZK 17.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2004.

The CZSO has carried out the regular quarterly update. According to the updated figures, the trade balance surplus grew by CZK 0.8 billion to CZK 27.7 billion in the first quarter of 2005, fell by CZK 0.9 billion to CZK 14.3 billion in the second quarter of 2005 and dropped by CZK 3.0 billion to CZK 0.3 billion in the third quarter of 2005. As a result, the trade balance surplus fell by CZK 3.1 billion in the 1st-3rd quarters of 2005 to CZK 42.2 billion. The update was particularly affected by post-reported imports of ‘petroleum, petroleum products and related materials’ in August and imports of ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ in July and August.


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According to the note of the Directorate General of Customs, data were received from 95.9% of the companies obliged to report within the Intrastat system.
Data for companies exempted from the reporting duty (those whose annual value of trade with the EU member states was below CZK 4 million for goods dispatched and below CZK 2 million for goods received) and data for companies that failed to report were imputed. The imputation methods are based on data that companies supplied in the previous period. As to the October data, the share of the imputed value was 1.9% in total exports and 1.6% in total imports.