External Trade - July 2006

In July 2006, according to preliminary data, exports and imports at current prices rose by 14.4% and 14.8% year-on-year, respectively. The trade balance ended in a deficit of CZK 1.2 billion which was by CZK 0.5 billion more year-on-year. In particular, the balance of trade in machinery and transport equipment kept on developing favourably (surplus up by CZK 7.0 billion). Conversely, deficit of trade in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials worsened (by CZK 3.1 billion).
According to preliminary data, seasonally adjusted exports increased by 5.6% while imports dropped by 2.0% month-on-month. The trend component rose by 1.7% in exports and by 1.1% in imports.

Year-on-year, exports and imports at current prices were up by 14.4% and 14.8%, respectively. Due to the appreciation of the Czech koruna against the euro and against the US dollar, external trade grew faster in terms of both euros (exports +21.5%, imports +21.8%) and US dollars (exports +27.7% and imports +28.1%) than external trade in Czech korunas.
The trade balance ended in a deficit of CZK 1.2 billion, which was by CZK 0.5 billion more year-on-year. July trade balance has never been in the black figures in the history of the Czech Republic. Trade balance with the EU member states was active by CZK 20.4 billion and with the non-EU states passive by CZK 21.6 billion.
The balance improved only in trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 7.0 billion) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (a surplus of CZK 0.2 billion as against the CZK 0.4 billion deficit). However, these increases were not high enough to compensate for balance deterioration in the other commodity sections. The balance was unfavourably affected by the results of trade in ’mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 3.1 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 2.3 billion), ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 1.6 billion) and ‘food and live animals’ (deficit up by CZK 0.9 billion).
Total exports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ grew by 22.1% (CZK +15.0 billion). On the increase was in particular value of exported ‘road vehicles’, ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ and ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and equipment’. The same commodity divisions saw an increase also in the value of imports; total imports of ‘machinery and transport equipment’ were up by 14.9% (CZK +8.0 billion).
The higher imports of ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 28.4% (CZK +3.8 billion) were mainly influenced by imports of crude petroleum (+33.1% in terms of value, +11.4% in terms of volume). Imports of natural gas rose by 24.8% in terms of value and dropped by 0.6% in terms of volume.
By group of countries, trade surplus with the EU member states rose by CZK 3.7 billion and trade deficit with the non-EU states increased by CZK 4.2 billion. Balance improved particularly in trade with Hungary by CZK 0.8 billion, Belgium by CZK 0.7 billion, Austria by CZK 0.6 billion, Germany by CZK 0.6 billion, Switzerland by CZK 0.5 billion and Italy by CZK 0.5 billion. On the other hand, balance deteriorated in trade with China by CZK 1.8 billion, Russia by CZK 1.6 billion, Ukraine by CZK 0.3 billion, Japan by CZK 0.3 billion, Malaysia by CZK 0.3 billion and Poland by CZK 0.3 billion.

Over last twelve months, compared to the preceding twelve months, exports and imports grew by 12,3% and 11.8%, respectively. The trade balance reached a surplus of CZK 38.0 billion, which was an improvement of CZK 13.4 billion.
Trade in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (surplus up by CZK 73.5 billion), ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles‘ (surplus up by CZK 5.0 billion), ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (deficit down by CZK 3.9 billion) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ (deficit down by CZK 1.3 billion) had a favourable effect on the development of the trade balance. On the other hand, balance deteriorated in trade in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (deficit up by CZK 50.8 billion), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (surplus down by CZK 15.3 billion) and ‘chemicals and related products’ (deficit up by CZK 5.9 billion).
By group of countries, trade surplus with the EU member states was higher by CZK 43.6 billion, while trade deficit with the non-EU states increased by CZK 30.2 billion. Balance improved with France by CZK 13.8 billion, Italy by CZK 11.7 billion, the United States by CZK 11.0 billion, the United Kingdom by CZK 9.4 billion, Ukraine by CZK 9.0 billion and Belgium by CZK 6.6 billion. Balance deteriorated in trade with Russia by CZK 28.5 billion, China by CZK 24.0 billion, the Netherlands by CZK 8.0 billion, Poland by CZK 6.3 billion and Germany by CZK 4.8 billion.

January-July 2006 exports and imports grew by 14.4% and 14.9%, respectively. Trade surplus of CZK 36.0 billion was by CZK 0.6 billion lower year-on-year.

The CZSO has carried out the regular quarterly update. The final data say that the trade balance for the year 2005 reached a surplus of CZK 38.6 billion (update by CZK -0.9 billion). According to the updated figures, surplus of the trade balance grew by CZK 2.0 billion and reached CZK 27.5 billion in the first quarter of 2006 and rose by CZK 0.2 billion and stood at CZK 9.7 billion in the second quarter of 2006.
According to the note of the Directorate General of Customs, data were received from 94.0% 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 the 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)
Related publication: 6001-06 External Trade of the Czech Republic in January-July 2006 ( /ep-6-opendocument )
The data for individual months of 2005 are final; data for individual months of the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2006 are updated referring to 28 August 2006 closing date.
The July 2006 data are preliminary; they refer to 28 August 2006 closing date and will be updated in December 2006 together with the data for individual months from the beginning of the year.