External Trade - September 2012

In September 2012, according to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, current price exports rose by 0.6%, while imports fell by 3.3%, year-on-year (y-o-y). The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 31.6 bn, which was by CZK 9.2 bn higher, y-o-y.

According to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, seasonally adjusted exports and imports fell by 0.6% and 0.2% respectively compared to August 2012. The development trend shows decreasing exports and (−0.3%) and imports (−0.1%).

Year-on-year, current prices exports rose by 0.6% (CZK +1.4 bn) and imports fell by 3.3% (CZK −7.7 bn). Imports fell for the first time since December 2009. Exports of entities seated in the Czech Republic dropped by 1.9% (CZK −3.7 bn) and entities seated outside the Czech Republic grew by 9.1% (CZK +5.1 bn). Imports of entities seated in the Czech Republic went down by 5.3% (CZK −10.4 bn) while imports of entities seated outside the Czech Republic increased by 7.3% (CZK +2.7 bn).

Due to depreciation of the CZK against the both main currencies, external trade fell expressed in terms of EUR (exports by −0.1% and imports by −4.0%) and in terms of USD (exports by −6.8% and imports by −10.4%).

In September, the trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 31.6 bn which was by CZK 9.2 bn higher compared to the same month of 2011. The balance of trade of entities seated in the Czech Republic showed a surplus of CZK 8.8 bn (against a surplus of CZK 2.2 bn in September 2011), the trade balance of entities not seated in the Czech Republic recorded a surplus of CZK 22.7 bn (compared to a surplus of CZK 20.2 bn in September 2011).

Y-o-y, surplus rose ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (by CZK 3.2 bn), ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 1.7 bn) and ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 1.4 bn). Deficit shrank in ‘chemicals and related products’ and ‘food and live animals’ by CZK 1.6 bn and CZK 0.1 bn respectively. The trade balance improved in ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ and ‘beverages and tobacco’ by CZK 2.3 bn and CZK 0.4 bn respectively as s deficit turned into a surplus. The trade gap in ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ deepened by CZK 1.9 bn.

Total 'machinery and transport equipment' exports went down by 1.8% (CZK −2.5 bn), y-o-y. Exports fell mainly in ‘road vehicles’ (by CZK −3.0 bn) and ‘other transport equipment’ by CZK −1.6 bn). Total 'machinery and transport equipment' imports dropped by 4.1% (CZK −3.9 bn), y−o−y, of which the largest decreases were posted in imports of ‘road vehicles’ (by CZK −1.8 bn) and ‘power-generating machinery and equipment’ (by CZK −1.0 bn). ‘Machinery and transport equipment’ recorded increases in exports and imports mainly in ‘telecommunications and sound−recording equipment’ by CZK 1.9 bn and CZK 1.6 bn respectively. ‘Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ imports rose by 14.4% (CZK +3.2 bn), y-o-y. Imports of crude petroleum rose by 9.8% in value but it dropped by 6.4% in volume. Natural gas imports increased by 80.0% in value and by 35.5% in volume.

The trade balance with EU Member States ended a surplus of CZK 62.6 bn, which was by CZK 4.6 bn higher, y-o-y. Trade balance with non-EU countries showed a deficit of CZK 31.0 bn which was by CZK 4.6 bn lower, y-o-y. Surplus rose in trade with Germany (by CZK 3.2 bn), Austria (by CZK 1.8 bn), the United Kingdom (by CZK 1.4 bn) and Slovakia (by CZK 1.0 bn). Deficit narrowed in trade with Korea (by CZK 1.9 bn) and China (by CZK 0.3 bn) and the trade balance improved with the Ukraine (by CZK 1.7 bn) as a deficit turned into a surplus. Deficit deepened in trade with the Russian Federation (by CZK 2.4 bn); and the trade balance deteriorated with Poland (by CZK 1.6 bn) as a surplus turned into a deficit.

In January – September 2012, exports and imports rose by 8.0% and 3.3% respectively. The trade balance surplus amounting to CZK 237.8 billion was up by CZK 104.3 billion, y-o-y. Surplus rose mainly in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 64.7 bn) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 19.9 bn). On the contrary, deficit increased in ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 4.8 bn) and ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by CZK 4.7 bn).

The trade balance in national concept (methodology of balance of payments) reflecting performance of the Czech economy showed a surplus of CZK 12.6 bn in September 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 97.8% 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 a n 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: December 7, 2012

This press release was not edited for language.