Export and import price indices - September

In September 2009, export prices decreased by 1.0% and import prices by 1.3%, month-on-month. Year-on-year, export prices decreased by 4.3% and import prices by 9.3%. The terms of trade figures reached 100.3%, m-o-m, and 105.5%, y-o-y.
Month-on-month comparison:

- Exports : export prices decreased by 1.0% (-0.5% in August), especially due to strengthening of the Czech crown to Euro and US Dollar. The drop of the total m-o-m export price index came mainly from a 1.5% price drop in ‘machinery and transport equipment’. The prices of ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ dropped both by 0.9%. Among important sections the prices grew in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ by 3.0%, in ‘chemicals and related products, n.e.s’ and in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’, both by 0.1%

- Imports: import prices dropped by 1.3% (-0.6% in August). Decrease of the total m-o-m import price index was driven mainly by a 5.5% drop in prices of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’. The prices of ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ and ‘food and live animals’ dropped by 4,2% and 1.5%, respectively. The prices in ‘chemicals and related products, n.e.s’, ‘machinery and transport equipment’ and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ dropped all by 0.9%. The price growth was only registered in ‘beverages and tobacco’ (+1.6%).

- The terms of trade figures remained in positive values for the third month increasing slightly to 100.3% (100.1% in August). Higher positive values were recorded for ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (107.5%), ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (105.9%) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (101.0%). Negative terms of trade figures, among sections important in terms of weight, were registered in ‘machinery and transport equipment' (99.4%) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials’ (99.7%).


Year-on-year comparison:

- Exports: export prices decreased for the second month in a row, this time by 4.3% (-2.7% in August). Change of the total y-o-y export price index was mainly affected by a 9.6% price drop in ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’. More marked price drops were recorded in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (-19.8%), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (-13.7%) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (-10.8%). Price growths were reported only for ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (+1.1%) and ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (+0.6%).

- Imports : import prices speeded up their fall to decrease by 9.3%, which was the biggest price drop since September 2002 (-7.2% in August). The change of the total y-o-y import price index came mainly from a 37.7% price drop in 'mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials'. Among important sections price drops were recorded in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (-20.4%), ‘chemicals and related products’ (-8.1%) and ’manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (-7.9%). Prices in ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ showed no changes. No price increase was reported for any group.

- The terms of trade figures reached 105.5% in September (104.8% in August) to show the highest value since November 2001. Among sections important in terms of weight, higher values of the terms of trade figures were recorded for ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials' (128.7%), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (108.4%), ‘machinery and transport equipment' (101.9%) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (101.1%). By contrast, negative values were registered in ‘chemicals and related products’ (97.1%) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials’ (98.2%).

Analysis - Development of external trade price indices in the 3rd quarter of 2009

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Note:
Contact: Vladimír Klimeš, phone (+420) 274 054 102, e-mail: vladimir.klimes@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: 15th calendar day after next month
Related publications: 7201-09 Import and Export Price Indices in the Czech Republic
Detailed (Internet: /produkty/export-and-import-price-indices-in-the-czech-republic-2009-2sc5fdjbfg )
The data released are final.