External Trade of the Czech Republic

Commentary

Contents

In November 2005, exports and imports at current prices rose by 7.8% and 7.0% year-on-year, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 1.7 billion. An improvement occurred in particular in the balance of trade in machinery and transport equipment where surplus rose by CZK 7.7 billion year-on-year.According to preliminary data, seasonally adjusted exports increased by 2.9% and imports by 5.6% month-on-month. The trend component rose by 1.9% in exports and by 0.4% in imports (Table 6, Graphs 1 and 2).

In terms of year-on-year comparison, exports and imports at current prices were up by 7.8% and 7.0%, respectively. Exports and imports reached record-breaking levels per month. Due to the appreciation of the Czech koruna against the euro and the depreciation against the US dollar, external trade grew faster in terms of euros (exports +15.3%, imports +14.4%) and slower in US dollars (exports +4.7%, imports +3.8%) than external trade valued in Czech korunas

The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 1.7 billion, which was by CZK 1.4 billion better result than in November 2004. Trade balance with the EU member states was active by CZK 29.0 billion and with the non-EU states passive by CZK 27.3 billion.
The improvement of the balance was most markedly contributed to by a CZK 7.7 billion increase in surplus of trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’. The deficit of trade in ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ of CZK 0.1 billion turned into a surplus of CZK 1.2 billion and the deficit of trade in ‘food and live animals‘ decreased by CZK 0.8 billion. Trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 6.1 billion), ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 2.1 billion) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 1.2 billion) affected the balance unfavourably.
The total exports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were higher by 13.0%. The highest participation in this growth had increases in exports of ‘road vehicles’, ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’, and ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’. On the other hand, exports of ‘telecommunications and sound-recording equipment’ dropped. Imports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were up by 4.8% in total, particularly due to imports of ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ and ‘power-generating machinery and equipment’. Imports of ‘metalworking machinery’ and ‘road vehicles’ decreased.
The growth of imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 52.1% was mainly influenced by higher imports of crude petroleum (+94.0% in terms of value, +43.2% in terms of volume). Imports of natural gas in terms of value grew by 46.8% while in terms of volume fell by 7.0%. The decrease in surplus of trade in ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ resulted mainly from deterioration of the balance of trade in ‘iron and steel’ (CZK -0.9 billion) and ‘textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles’ (CZK -0.5 billion).
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states grew by CZK 5.2 billion and deficit with the non-EU states increased by CZK 3.8 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with Italy (the CZK 1.5 billion deficit turned into a CZK 0.1 billion surplus), France (surplus up by CZK 1.6 billion), Slovakia (surplus grew by CZK 1.6 billion), Spain (surplus up by CZK 1.3 billion) and the United Kingdom (surplus up by CZK 1.2 billion). Balance deteriorated in trade with Russia (deficit up by CZK 2.9 billion), China (deficit up by CZK 2.6 billion), Germany (surplus down by CZK 1.8 billion), Austria (surplus down by CZK 1.7 billion) and the Netherlands (a CZK 1.5 billion surplus turned into a CZK 0.2 billion deficit).

Over last twelve months, compared to the preceding twelve months, exports and imports grew by 9.5% and 5.1%, respectively. The total trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 36.2 billion, which was an improvement of CZK 72.9 billion.
Trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 83.8 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus up by CZK 10.7 billion), ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit down by CZK 6.5 billion) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ (surplus up by CZK 5.3 billion) had a favourable effect on the development of the trade balance. Deficit rose in trade in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 36.8 billion).
By group of countries, surplus of trade with the EU member states was by CZK 59.5 billion higher. Balance improved in trade with France (CZK +20.9 billion), Slovakia (CZK +14.1 billion), Germany (CZK +9.5 billion), Spain (CZK +8.8 billion) and Italy (CZK +8.0 billion). Balance deteriorated in trade with the Netherlands (CZK -24.4 billion), Austria (CZK -4.3 billion) and Sweden (CZK -2.3 billion). Trade deficit with the non-EU states decreased by CZK 13.4 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with the United States (CZK +5.2 billion), Malaysia (CZK +4.2 billion) and the Ukraine (CZK +2.1 billion). Balance worsened in trade with Russia (CZK -20.2 billion), Turkey (CZK -3.6 billion) and Norway (CZK -2.4 billion).

In January-November 2005, exports and imports grew by 8.7% and 4.7%, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 45.8 billion, compared to the deficit of CZK 16.8 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 95.3% 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 November data, the share of the imputed value was 2.2% in total exports and 1.5% in total imports.