Export and import price indices - June 2005

Month-on-month comparison:

- Import prices increased by +0.9% in June, while export prices decreased -0.6%. Import prices thus had opposite trend than export prices for the first time since November 2002. The main reason for this development was higher growth of import prices of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' and lower decrease of import prices of 'chemicals and related products' in comparison with export price development of these sections and further Czech crown depreciation to USD at its simultaneous appreciation to EUR. Gradual decrease of export prices of iron and manufactures of metals was also of effect.

- Imports: import prices were influenced the most by growth of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' prices +9.6% (especially petroleum and petroleum products prices increased). Prices of 'crude materials, inedible, except fuels' increased by +1.1%, 'machinery and transport equipment' +0.1% (telecommunications and sound-recording and reproducing apparatus and equipment in particular). Mainly, prices of 'chemicals and related products' decreased -1.1% (organic chemicals and fertilizers in particular) and 'miscellaneous manufactured articles' by -0.8%.

- Exports: the biggest influence on the development of the total m-o-m export price index was due to price decrease of 'manufactured goods classified chiefly by material' -1.3% (especially leather, leather manufactures, iron and steel) and 'chemicals and related products' -3.3% (mainly plastics, organic chemicals). After growth in the previous two months, also 'machinery and transport equipment' prices slightly decreased -0.1% (especially office machines and automatic data-processing machines). On the other hand, prices of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' increased +4.8% (mainly petroleum products).

- Terms of trade reached the value of 98.5%, i.e. by 1.4 percentage point less than in May; at the same time, it is the lowest value since May 2000. The terms of trade value was low especially in 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' 95.6%, 'crude materials, inedible, except fuels' 97.5% and 'chemicals and related products' 97.8%; higher values were mainly for sections of ‘food and live animals' 100.8% and 'miscellaneous manufactured articles' 100.6%. The terms of trade for section 'machinery and transport equipment' amounted to 99.8% (by 0.1 percentage point less than in May).

Year-on-year comparison:

- Import prices increased by +1.4%, while export prices decreased by -0.8% (i.e. by 1.7 and 0.2 percentage points more, respectively, than in May). The main cause of this counter development was higher import price growth of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' and slower growth decrease of import prices of metals and manufactures of metals in comparison with development of export prices in these sections.

- Import price growth was influenced the most by growth of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' prices by +34.8% (petroleum, petroleum products and gas in particular). Prices of 'crude materials, inedible, except fuels' increased +1.2% as well (especially metalliferous ores). For more significant sections, on the contrary, mainly import prices of 'miscellaneous manufactured articles' decreased -7.5% and 'machinery and transport equipment' -3.5% (office machines and automatic data-processing machines in particular).

- The biggest influence on the decrease of the total y-o-y export price index was due to price cut in 'machinery and transport equipment' -3.6% (mainly power-generating machinery and equipment). Already since July 2004, prices of 'miscellaneous manufactured articles' are decreasing – this time by -1.5% (articles of apparel in particular) and since November 2004 also prices of 'food and live animals', -3.4% in June. On the contrary, especially export prices of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' rose +24.7% (coal and petroleum products in particular) as well as 'chemicals and related products' +2.3% (especially inorganic chemicals and fertilizers).

- Terms of trade reached the value of 97.8%, i.e. by 1.9 percentage point less than in May and at the same time the lowest value since November 2000. Low terms of trade figures were recorded especially in sections of 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' 92.5%, 'crude materials, inedible, except fuels' 96.8% and 'food and live animals' 97.0%; they were higher especially in sections of 'miscellaneous manufactured articles' 106.5% and 'chemicals and related products' 103.1. For ‘machinery and transport equipment’, terms of trade were 99.9% (i.e. by 0.2 percentage point less than in May).


Month-on-month comparison:
- World prices of raw materials and food covered by the index increased in total by +5.3% in July, i.e. almost the same as in June. The main cause of this was again price growth of crude oil and natural gas; Brent petroleum price rose by +4.4% and natural gas +8.6%. Prices of rubber rose as well, while prices of metals (-0.5%), food and wood decreased.

Year-on-year comparison:
- In July, the world prices were +43.1% up in total (by 0.6 percentage points more than in June) and thus slightly speeded up their growth again. This was caused mainly by acceleration of the y-o-y price growth of natural gas prices (from 47.4% in June to 50.0% in July). Petroleum Brent price increased +53.5%. Food and rubber prices rose faster, too. On the contrary, prices of metals slowed down their growth (-8.0%, i.e. by 4.5 percentage points less than in June). Prices of textile raw materials and wood continued to drop, prices of leathers dropped as well.

1) The world prices follow actual prices in terms of original currencies read at commodity exchanges and indicate in advance the nature of the future development of Czech import and export prices of industrial raw materials and food.

Analysis - Development of external trade price indices in the second quarter of 2005

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Note
Contact: Jiří Choun, tel. (+420) 27405 2196, e-mail: jiri.choun@csu.gov.cz
Data source: CZSO survey
End of data collection: Last calendar day of the month
End of data processing: Import and export price indices: 40th calendar day following the end of reference month
CZSO world price indices: 10th calendar day following the end of reference month
Related publications: 7201-05 Import and Export Price Indices in the Czech Republic
7202-05 CZSO World Price Indices of Industrial Raw Materials and Food
Detailed on (Internet: /katalog-produktu )
The released data are definitive.