External Trade - December 2012

In December 2012, according to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, exports and imports at current prices fell by 7.1% and 7.0%, year-on-year (y-o-y), respectively. The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 6.4 bn, which was by CZK 0.7 bn lower compared to December 2011.
In the year 2012, exports and imports were up by 6.4% and 2.4% respectively. The annual trade balance was active and amounted to CZK 310.8 bn, which was by CZK 119.6 bn more than in 2011.

According to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, seasonally adjusted exports and imports rose by 2.7% and 6.5% respectively compared to November 2012. The development trend shows increasing exports and (+1.3%) and imports (+1.5%).

Year−on−year, exports and imports at current prices fell by 7.1% (CZK −16.2 bn) and 7.0% (CZK −15.5 bn) respectively. A decrease in exports was recorded for the first time since October 2009. Y−o−y, the external trade turnover fell by CZK 31.7 bn to CZK 415.3 bn and was the lowest one since December 2010. December 2012 had three working days less than December 2011, which influenced the results.

Exports and imports converted to EUR decreased by 6.0% and 5.9% respectively. Expressed in US dollars, exports and imports fell by 6.5% and 6.4% respectively.

Exports of entities seated in the Czech Republic went down by 9.5% (CZK −16.3 bn) and entities seated outside the Czech Republic grew by 0.2% (CZK +0.1 bn). Imports of entities seated in the Czech Republic dropped by 10.7% (CZK −19.5 bn) while imports of entities seated outside the Czech Republic increased by 10.8% (CZK −4.0 bn).

In December, the trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 6.4 bn which was by CZK 0.7 bn lower y−o−y. The balance of trade of entities seated in the Czech Republic showed a deficit of CZK 7.3 bn (against a deficit of CZK 10.5 bn in December 2011), the trade balance of entities not seated in the Czech Republic recorded a surplus of CZK 13.7 bn (compared to a surplus of CZK 17.6 bn in December 2011).

A decrease in surplus in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 5.1 bn) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 0.5 bn) and an increase in deficit in ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 0.4 bn) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (by CZK 0.2 bn) affected the trade balance negatively. On the other hand, deficit shrank in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 2.2 bn) and ‘food and live animals’ (by CZK 0.1 bn). ‘Miscellaneous manufactured articles’ posted an increase in surplus of CZK 1.4 bn; and the trade balance in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ improved (by CZK 1.3 bn) as a deficit turned into a surplus.

Total 'machinery and transport equipment' exports went down by 8.7% (CZK −11.0 bn), y−o−y. Exports fell mainly in ‘road vehicles’ (CZK −6.1 bn), ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (CZK −2.0 bn) and ‘telecommunications and sound-recording equipment’ (CZK −1.9 bn). Exports of ‘office machines, automatic data−processing machines’ grew by CZK +2.7 bn. Total 'machinery and transport equipment' imports were by 6.2% (CZK −5.9 bn) lower, y−o−y, of which the biggest decreases were observed in imports of ‘road vehicles’ (CZK −3.1 bn) and ‘power-generating machinery and equipment’ (CZK −3.0 bn). There were increases in imports of ‘office machines, automatic data−processing machines’ (CZK +3.0 bn). Imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ dropped by 12.2% (CZK −3.4 bn) y−o−y. Imports of crude petroleum grew by 5.2% in value; and decreased by 4.4% in volume. Imports of natural gas were lower by 33.7% in value and by 39.6% in volume.

The trade balance with EU Member States reached a surplus of CZK 41.9 bn, which was by CZK 0.8 bn lower, y−o−y. Deficit of trade with non-EU countries shrank by CZK 0.1 bn to CZK 35.5 bn. Surplus rose in trade with Austria (by CZK 1.7 bn) and the United Kingdom (by CZK 1.4 bn) and the trade gap with the Russian Federation was lower (by CZK 2.7 bn). On the other hand, surplus fell in trade with Slovakia (by CZK 0.9 bn) and Germany (by CZK 0.5 bn). Deficit deepened in trade with China (by CZK 5.3 bn); and the trade balance deteriorated in trade with Poland (by CZK 1.3 bn) as a surplus turned into a deficit.

In the year 2012, compared with 2011, exports and imports rose by 6.4% and 2.4%, respectively. The external trade turnover grew by CZK 248.5 bn to CZK 5 814.8 bn, y−o−y. The trade balance showed a surplus of CZK 310.8 bn, which was by CZK 119.6 bn higher, y−o−y. The balance improved mainly in 'machinery and transport equipment' (surplus up by CZK 74.5 bn) and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (surplus up by CZK 26.4 bn). On the contrary, deficit deepened in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 9.9 bn). The external trade with EU Member States ended in a surplus of CZK 710.0 bn, which was by CZK 36.6 bn higher, y−o−y. The trade gap with non-EU countries was by CZK 83.1 bn lower to reach CZK 399.2 bn.

The trade balance in national concept (methodology of balance of payments) reflecting performance of the Czech economy showed a deficit of CZK 7.1 bn in December 2012. The data on exports and imports of goods, calculated by using the VAT data according to this concept, are available in Table 8 and in the time series External trade in goods according to change of ownership (national concept).


Notes:
According to the CZSO sources data were obtained from 97.8% of companies (for goods dispatched) and 98.0% of companies (for goods arrived) obliged to report to the Intrastat system. Data for companies, exempted from the reporting duty, in accordance with the amended Decree No. 201/2005 Sb., and for companies that failed to report, have been imputed. The imputation methods are based on data of trade implemented that the companies reported in the previous period and data given in the VAT return forms.
The data for individual months of 2011 are final referring to 28 August 2012 closing date. The data for individual months of 2012 are preliminary. Preliminary data of the reference month are released together with updated data of the previous three months. All data are processed from basic reporting units and subsequently rounded.
After the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, two systems of data collection are used as a source on external trade statistics in cross-border conception (border statistics). Extrastat records data on trade with the non-EU countries and uses some data from Single Administrative Documents. Intrastat collects data on movement of goods within the European Union for entities that are obliged to provide Intrastat data. According to legal regulations of the European Communities, entities registered for Value Added Tax have a duty to provide data for Intrastat regardless of the fact, whether an entity is or is not seated in the Czech Republic (resident or non-resident). Detailed information is available in external trade methodology: /whatisexternal_trade
Responsible manager of the CZSO: Ing. Marek Rojíček, Ph.D., Director of Macroeconomic Statistics Branch, phone (+420) 274 052 486 , E-mail: marek.rojicek@csu.gov.cz
Contact: Karel Král, Director of External Trade Statistics Department, phone (+420) 274 052 161, E-mail: karel.kral@csu.gov.cz
Method of data collection: Intrastat forms and Single administrative documents.
End of data collection: 20 ^th working day after the end of the reference month
Documents available on the CZSO website: w-6001-11 External Trade of the Czech Republic –detailed breakdown (periodicity: monthly): /produkty/external-trade-of-the-czech-republic-december-2012-edwombu9aa
External Trade Database: /ep-6-opendocument
Next News Release: March 8, 2013

This press release was not edited for language.