External Trade - October 2012

In October 2012, according to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, current price exports and imports rose by 7.5% and 8.2%, year-on-year (y-o-y), respectively. The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 33.0 bn, which was by CZK 0.8 bn higher, y-o-y.

According to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, seasonally adjusted exports and imports fell by 2.4% and 3.4% respectively compared to September 2012. The development trend shows decreasing exports and (−1.3%) and imports (−1.1%).

Year-on-year, current prices exports and imports rose by 7.5% (CZK +19.7 bn) and 8.2% (CZK +18.9 bn). The rate of growth of imports was faster than the rate of growth of exports for the first time since May 2011. The external trade turnover increased by 7.9% to CZK 531.3 bn and reached the highest monthly value since 1993. October 2012 had three working days more than October 2011.

Exports of entities seated in the Czech Republic went up by 9.2% (CZK +17.8 bn) and entities seated outside the Czech Republic grew by 2.7% (CZK +1.9 bn). Imports of entities seated in the Czech Republic rose by 10.3% (CZK +19.8 bn) while imports of entities seated outside the Czech Republic decreased by 2.3% (CZK −0.9 bn).

Due to depreciation of the CZK against the both main currencies, external trade grew slower in EUR (exports by +7.1% and imports by +7.8%) and USD (exports by +1.6% and imports by +2.3%) than in CZK.

In October, the trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 33.0 bn which was the second highest in 2012. The surplus was by CZK 0.8 bn higher in comparison with the same month of 2011. The balance of trade of entities seated in the Czech Republic showed a deficit of CZK 1.5 bn (against a surplus of CZK 0.4 bn in October 2011), the trade balance of entities not seated in the Czech Republic recorded a surplus of CZK 34.5 bn (compared to a surplus of CZK 31.7 bn in October 2011).

Y-o-y, surplus rose ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (by CZK 3.3 bn), ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 3.1 bn) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 1.7 bn); and deficit shrank in trade in ‘food and live animals’ by CZK 0.1 bn. The trade gap deepened in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 6.8 bn), ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 0.3 bn) and ‘beverages and tobacco’ by CZK 0.1 bn).The trade balance deteriorated in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ by CZK 1.0 bn as a surplus turned into a deficit.

Total 'machinery and transport equipment' exports went up by 3.3% (CZK +4.9 bn), y-o-y. Exports grew mainly in ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (by CZK +3.4 bn) and ‘road vehicles’ and ‘office machines, automatic data-processing machines’ (both by CZK +1.6 bn). On the other hand, exports of ‘telecommunications and sound−recording equipment’ fell (by CZK −5.3 bn). Total 'machinery and transport equipment' imports were by 1.8% (CZK +1.8 bn) larger, y−o−y, of which the biggest increases were observed in imports of ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (by CZK +2.1 bn) and ‘road vehicles’ (by CZK +2.0 bn). Imports of ‘office machines, automatic data-processing machines’ dropped (by CZK −2.5 bn). The growth of imports in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by 35.5 % (CZK +7.0 bn) was mainly due to higher imports of crude petroleum (+154.1% in value and +146.0% in volume). Imports of natural gas grew by 20.2% in value and dropped by 3.0% in volume.

The trade balance with EU Member States reached a surplus of CZK 64.6 bn, which was by CZK 0.8 bn higher, y−o−y. The trade deficit with non-EU countries remained on the same level as in October 2011 (CZK −31.6 bn). Balance improved in trade with China as a result of a decrease of deficit by CZK 4.0 bn. Surplus rose in trade with Austria (by CZK +2,6 bn), the United Kingdom (by CZK +2.3 bn), Germany (by CZK +0.7 bn) and Slovakia (by CZK +0.4 bn). The trade balance deteriorated in trade with the Russian Federation and Italy (by CZK −4.9 bn and CZK −1.8 bn respectively) as a surplus turned into a deficit. Surplus decreased in trade with France (by CZK −1.8 bn).

In January – October 2012, exports and imports rose by 8.0% and 3.9% respectively. The trade balance surplus amounting to CZK 269.2 billion was up by CZK 103.6 billion, y-o-y. Surplus rose mainly in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 67.0 bn) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 21.3 bn). On the contrary, deficit increased in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ (by CZK 11.5 bn) ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 5.2 bn).

The trade balance in national concept (methodology of balance of payments) reflecting performance of the Czech economy showed a surplus of CZK 4.8 bn in October 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 98.1% 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: January 7, 2013

This press release was not edited for language.