External Trade of the Czech Republic
Commentary | Contents |
External trade in April 2005
According to preliminary data, exports and imports seasonally adjusted increased by 2.4% and 5.2% month-on-month, respectively. The trend component rose by 0.7% in exports and 0.3% in imports (Table 6, Graphs 1 and 2). The growth rate of trend of exports started to grow after a previous two-month slowdown, the growth rate of trend of imports has been rising since February 2005 after a long-term decrease.
In terms of year-on-year comparison, current price exports rose by 2.8% and imports fell by 7.5% (Graphs 3 and 4). The results were also affected by the high comparative base of April 2004, especially in imports. External trade grew faster in terms of US dollars (exports +19.7% and imports +7.7%), while in terms of euros exports rose by 10.9% and imports dropped by 0.1%.
The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 5.1 billion, compared to the deficit of CZK 10.9 billion in April 2004. The balance thus improved by CZK 16.0 billion y-o-y, i.e. by most in the history of the Czech Republic. Trade balance with the EU member states reached a surplus of CZK 25.1 billion, trade balance with non-EU states ended in a deficit of CZK 20.0 billion. A favourable development was recorded in all commodity groups except ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’. Balance improved mainly in trade in ’machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus rose by CZK 7.6 billion), ’chemicals and related products’ (deficit decreased by CZK 5.9 billion) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (the CZK 0.4 billion deficit turned into a CZK 2.9 billion surplus). Deficit of trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ worsened by CZK 4.9 billion.
Exports of ’machinery and transport equipment’ were lower by 2.6% in total, mainly due to a decrease in exports of telecommunications and sound-recording equipment by 44.4% and computers by 26.3%. On the other hand, exports of general industrial machinery and equipment rose by 19.4% and of road vehicles by 17.1%. Imports of ’machinery and transport equipment’ were down by 14.1%; the biggest decreases were recorded in metalworking machinery (-50.7%), telecommunications and sound-recording equipment (-30.2%) and computers (-22.3%).
Favourable development of the balance of trade in ‘chemicals and related products’ was affected particularly by a drop in deficit of trade in medicinal and pharmaceutical products by CZK 1.8 billion.
The growth of imports of ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 51.3% was caused mainly by higher imports of petroleum (by 102,6% in terms of value, by 47.9% in terms of volume) and natural gas (by 34.8% in terms of value, by 23.7% in terms of volume).
By group of countries, improvements were recorded both in trade with the EU member states (surplus grew by CZK 7.8 billion) and in trade with non-EU states (deficit fell by CZK 8.2 billion). Balance improved particularly in trade with Germany (surplus rose by CZK 2.7 billion), China (deficit decreased by CZK 2.5 billion), Slovakia (surplus increased by CZK 2.0 billion) and France (the CZK 1.1 billion deficit turned into a CZK 0.8 billion surplus). Balance deteriorated in trade with the Netherlands (surplus fell by CZK 2.2 billion), Russia (deficit grew by CZK 1.1 billion) and Austria (surplus dropped by CZK 0.8 billion).
Over last twelve months (the first year of the Czech Republic’s membership of the EU) compared to preceding twelve months, exports and imports were up by 23.8% and 17.5%, respectively. The total balance reached surplus CZK 11.2 billion which amounted to a CZK 78.5 billion improvement.
Of favourable effect on development of the balance was trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (a CZK 94.5 billion increase in surplus), ‘chemicals and related products’ (a CZK 9.1 billion fall in deficit) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (a CZK 5.3 billion growth in surplus). Deficit rose in trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by CZK 21.6 billion and in ’crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ by CZK 2.7 billion. Surplus fell in trade in ’miscellaneous manufactured articles’ by CZK 3.4 billion, and the previously equal balance of trade in ’beverages and tobacco’ turned into a CZK 2.2 billion deficit.
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states grew by CZK 85.4 billion, most in trade with Germany (by CZK 35.9 billion), Slovakia (by CZK 17.6 billion) and Hungary (by CZK 11.0 billion), and the CZK 8.4 billion deficit in trade with France turned into a CZK 4.3 surplus. Conversely, surplus dropped in trade with the Netherlands by CZK 9.0 billion and with the United Kingdom by CZK 5.8 billion. Deficit of trade with non-EU states rose by CZK 6.9 billion, particularly with Japan (by CZK 20.1 billion), the United States (by CZK 8.7 billion) and China (by CZK 2.4 billion). On the other hand, deficit decreased in trade with Malaysia (by CZK 6.6 billion).
January-April 2005 exports and imports grew by 12.7% and 6.0%, respectively. Trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 24.5 billion compared to the trade gap of CZK 9.6 billion in the same period of 2004.
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According to the communication from the Directorate General of Customs, data were received from 95.4% companies obliged to report to the Intrastat system. As far as large companies are concerned (those whose annual value of exports to or imports from the EU member states exceeded CZK 100 million), the response rate was 99,1%.
Data for companies exempted from reporting duty (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 April data, the share of imputed value in total exports was 2.8% and in total imports 2.0%.