External Trade - April 2006

In April 2006, according to preliminary data, exports and imports at current prices rose by 3.0% and 2.6% year-on-year, respectively. The trade balance ended in a slight surplus of CZK 0.2 billion. A rise in surplus of trade in machinery and transport equipment of CZK 5.7 billion had the only positive influence on the balance, while an increase of deficit in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials of CZK 1.8 billion affected the balance negatively again.
According to preliminary data, seasonally adjusted exports decreased by 2.9% and imports by 5.8% month-on-month. The trend component rose by 0.1% in exports and in imports it remained approximately on the same level as in the previous month.

In terms of year-on-year comparison, exports and imports at current prices were up by 3.0% and 2.6%, respectively. The growth rate of exports was the lowest since May 2005; the growth rate of imports was the lowest since July 2005. The results were influenced by the lower number of working days (April 2006 had two working days less than April 2005). Due to the appreciation of the Czech koruna against the euro and against the US dollar, external trade grew faster in terms of euros (exports +8.9%, imports +8.5%) and in terms of US dollars (exports +3.2% and imports +2.8%) than external trade in Czech korunas
The trade balance ended almost equal with a slight surplus of CZK 0.2 billion, which was by CZK 0.6 billion more than in April 2005. Trade balance with the EU member states was active by CZK 22.6 billion and with the non-EU states passive by CZK 22.4 billion. The balance improved only in trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ where the surplus increased by CZK 5.7 billion. On the contrary, the balance was negatively affected by an increase of the deficit in trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by CZK 1.8 billion, a fall of the surplus in trade in ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ by CZK 1.1 billion, a decrease of the surplus in ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ by CZK 1.1 billion and a rise of the deficit in trade in ‘beverages and tobacco’ by CZK 1.0 billion.
The growth of total exports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ slowed down to 7.9% (by CZK 6.1 billion). The highest share in this growth had increases in exports of ‘road vehicles’ (CZK +3.3 billion), ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ (CZK +2.4 billion) and ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (CZK +0.7 billion). Mainly exports of ‘machinery specialized for particular industries’ decreased. Imports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were up only by 0.6% (by CZK +0.4 billion) in total, of which most imports of ‘telecommunications and sound-recording equipment’ (CZK +2.0 billion), ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ (CZK +1.9 billion and ‘power-generating machinery and equipment’ (CZK +1.4 billion). The highest decrease occurred in imports of ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’.
The higher imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 16.0% (by CZK 2.2 billion) were mainly influenced by imports of natural gas, which rose in terms of value by CZK 32.8%, while in terms of volume they fell by 4.3%. Imports of crude petroleum went up in terms of value only by 2.0%, in terms of volume dropped by 25.4%.
By group of countries, trade surplus with the EU member states grew by CZK 2.5 billion and trade deficit with the non-EU states increased by CZK 1.9 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with Sweden by CZK 4.5 billion, Italy by CZK 0.9 billion, Ukraine by CZK 0.8 billion, Belgium by CZK 0.6 billion, Switzerland by CZK 0.5 billion and Hungary by CZK 0.5 billion. On the other hand, balance deteriorated in trade with Poland by CZK 2.0 billion, China by CZK 1.2 billion, Slovakia by CZK 1.0 billion, Germany by CZK 0.8 billion, Japan by CZK 0.5 billion and Russia by CZK 0.3 billion.

Over the last twelve months, compared to the preceding twelve months, exports and imports grew by 9.4% and 7.5%, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 41.4 billion, which was an improvement of CZK 35.1 billion.
Trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 75.7 billion), ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ (surplus up by CZK 9.6 billion), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (deficit down by CZK 3.0 billion) and ‘food and live animals’ (deficit down by CZK 1.8 billion) had a favourable effect on the development of the trade balance. On the other hand, balance deteriorated in trade with ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 45.8 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 7.6 billion), ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 1.7 billion) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (deficit up by CZK 1.1 billion).
By group of countries, trade surplus with the EU member states was higher by CZK 43.9 billion, trade deficit with the non-EU states increased by CZK 8.8 billion. Balance improved with France by CZK 17.0 billion, the United States by CZK 16.1 billion, the United Kingdom by CZK 14.8 billion, Italy by CZK 13.1 billion, Spain by CZK 10.4 billion, Ukraine by CZK 10.1 billion and Sweden by CZK 5.1 billion. Balance deteriorated in trade with Russia by CZK 26.5 billion, the Netherlands by CZK 18.2 billion, China by CZK 17.7 billion, Germany by CZK 8.6 billion, Austria by CZK 4.9 billion, Poland by CZK 4.1 billion and Norway by CZK 4.1 billion.

January-April 2006 exports and imports grew by 13.7% and 13.9%, respectively. Trade surplus of CZK 25.6 billion was by CZK 1.8 billion higher year-on-year.

The CZSO has carried out the regular quarterly update. According to the updated figures, the 2005 trade surplus fell by CZK 0.9 billion to CZK 39.5 billion and the trade surplus in Q1 2006 decreased by CZK 1.8 billion to CZK 25.5 billion.
According to the note of the Directorate General of Customs, data were received from 94.8% of the companies obliged to report to 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.

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Note
Contact: Petra Křížová, phone (+420) 274 054 270, e-mail: petra.krizova@csu.gov.cz
Data source: Intrastat reports and Single Administrative Documents (SADs) collected by the Directorate General of Customs (DGC)
Related publication: 6001-06 External Trade of the Czech Republic in January-April 2006 ( /ep-6-opendocument )

The data for individual months of 2005 and the data for individual months Q12006 are updated referring to 30 May 2006 closing date. The final 2005 data will be released in September 2006.
The April 2006 data are preliminary referring to 30 May 2006 closing date and will be updated together with the data for the individual months of the Q1 and Q2 2006 in September 2006.