External Trade of the Czech Republic

Commentary

Contents

According to preliminary data, seasonally adjusted exports fell by 1.0% and imports by 1.6% month-on-month. The trend component rose by 0.2% in exports and by 1.2% in imports (Table 6, Graphs 1 and 2).

In terms of year-on-year comparison, exports and imports at current prices were up by 5.3% and 4.3%, respectively. Due to the development of exchange rate of the koruna, external trade rose faster in terms of euros (exports +13.6%, imports +12.5%) and dollars (exports +14.1%, imports +13.0%) than in korunas.
The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 4.0 billion, which was by CZK 1.6 billion more y-o-y. This is the highest September surplus ever recorded in the history of the Czech Republic. Trade balance with the EU member states was active by CZK 23.2 billion and with the non-EU states passive by CZK 19.2 billion.
The improvement of the balance was most markedly contributed to by a CZK 4.5 billion increase in surplus of trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’. Surplus rose also of trade in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (+CZK 0.4 billion) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (+CZK 0.3 billion). Trade deficit in ‘food and live animals’ decreased by CZK 0.3 billion. Particularly trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 3.5 billion), ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 0.5 billion) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 0.3 billion) influenced the balance unfavourably.
The development of the balance of trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (exports +6.9%, imports +1.6%) was primarily affected by improvements of the balance of trade in road vehicles (CZK +4.2 billion), ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’ (CZK +1.3 billion) and ‘office machines, automatic data-processing machines’ (CZK +1.1 billion). On the other hand, balance deteriorated of trade in ‘telecommunications and sound-recording equipment’ (CZK -2.5 billion) and ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (CZK -1.4 billion).
The growth of imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 37.4% was mainly influenced by higher imports of crude petroleum (+69.6% in terms of value, +19.1% in terms of volume) and natural gas (+53.9% in terms of value, +5.4% in terms of volume).
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states grew by CZK 1.6 billion and deficit with the non-EU states remained at the same level. Balance improved particularly in trade with the United States (the CZK 1.8 billion deficit turned into a CZK 0.9 billion surplus), France (the CZK 0.3 billion deficit turned into a surplus of CZK 1.8 billion), Italy (deficit down by CZK 1.8 billion), Poland (surplus up by CZK 1.2 billion), Sweden (surplus up by CZK 0.8 billion) and the United Kingdom (surplus up by CZK 0.7 billion). Balance deteriorated of trade with the Netherlands (the CZK 3.0 billion surplus turned into a CZK 2.1 billion deficit), Russia (deficit up by CZK 2.7 billion), Germany (surplus down by CZK 2.1 billion) and China (deficit up by CZK 1.2 billion).

Over last twelve months, compared to the preceding twelve months, exports and imports grew by 12.6% and 7.2%, respectively. The total trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 34.3 billion, which was an improvement of CZK 83.3 billion.
A favourable effect on the development of the balance had trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 86.5 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus up by CZK 19.6 billion), ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit down by CZK 10.8 billion) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (surplus up by CZK 2.4 billion). Deficit rose of trade in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 30.6 billion), ‘food and live animals’ (by CZK 2.7 billion), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (by CZK 1.5 billion) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (by CZK 0.9 billion).
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states grew by CZK 66.6 billion. Balance improved in trade with France (CZK +20.8 billion), Germany (CZK +20.0 billion), Slovakia (CZK +15.2 billion), Italy (CZK +6.5 billion) and Spain (CZK +6.2 billion). Balance deteriorated in trade with the Netherlands (CZK 25.6 billion) and Sweden (CZK -3.8 billion). Trade deficit with the non-EU states decreased by CZK 16.7 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with the United States (CZK +12.0 billion), Malaysia (CZK +3.9 billion), the Ukraine (CZK +2.7 billion) and China (CZK +2.3 billion). Balance worsened in trade with Russia (CZK -14.7 billion), Turkey (CZK -2.9 billion) and Switzerland (CZK -1.8 billion).

In January-September 2005, exports and imports grew by 8.6% and 3.8%, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 45.3 billion, compared to the deficit of CZK 15.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2004.


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According to the note of the Directorate General of Customs, data were received from 95.8% of the companies obliged to report within the Intrastat system. Among large companies (those whose annual value of exports to or imports from the EU member states exceeded CZK 100 million), the response rate was 98.6%.
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 September data, the share of the imputed value was 2.1% in total exports and 1.9% in total imports.