External Trade - August 2012

In August 2012, according to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, current price exports and imports rose by 7.9% and 0.8%, year-on-year (y-o-y), respectively. The trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 16.9 bn, which was by CZK 15.6 bn higher, y-o-y.

According to preliminary data of ‘border statistics’, seasonally adjusted exports and imports fell by 0.8% and 1.0% respectively compared to July 2012. The development trend shows increasing exports (+0.3%) and decreasing imports (−0.2%).

Year-on-year, current prices exports and imports rose by 7.9% (CZK +17.4 bn) and 0.8% (CZK +1.7 bn) respectively. External trade turnover reached CZK 458.1 bn which was the lowest monthly value of turnover this year. Exports of entities seated in the Czech Republic increased by 7.6% (CZK +12.9 bn) and entities seated outside the Czech Republic grew by 9.1% (CZK +4.5 bn) respectively. Imports of entities seated in the Czech Republic grew by 1.9% (CZK +3.5 bn) while imports of entities seated outside the Czech Republic decreased by 4.6% (CZK −1.8 bn).

Due to depreciation of the CZK against the both main currencies, converting to EUR exports went up by 4.7% while imports fell by 2.2%. When expressed in USD, exports and imports fell by 9.5% and 15.5% respectively.

In August, the trade balance ended in a surplus of CZK 16.9 bn which has been the lowest surplus recorded this year. Compared to the same month of 2011, the surplus rose by CZK 15.6 bn. The balance of trade of entities seated in the Czech Republic showed a deficit of CZK 1.3 bn (against a deficit of CZK 10.7 bn in August 2011), the trade balance of entities not seated in the Czech Republic recorded a surplus of CZK 18.2 bn (compared to a surplus of CZK 11.9 bn in August 2011).

Y-o-y, surplus rose in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 8.4 bn), ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’ (by CZK 3.0 bn), and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 2.7 bn). Deficit increased in ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 0.3 bn) and, on the other hand, it shrank in ‘food and live animals’ and ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by CZK 0.7 bn and CZK and CZK 0.2 bn respectively. The trade surpluses in ‘beverages and tobacco’ and ‘crude materials, inedible, except fuels’ (both of CZK 0.1 bn) remained at the August 2011 level.

Total 'machinery and transport equipment' exports rose by 4.9% (CZK +5.6 bn), y-o-y. Increases were observed mainly in exports of ‘road vehicles’ (by CZK +2.3 bn), ‘electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances’ (by CZK +2.1 bn) and ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’ (by CZK 1.7 bn). Total 'machinery and transport equipment' imports dropped by 3.2% (CZK −2.8 bn), y-o-y, of which the largest decrease was posted in imports of ‘office machines and automatic data-processing machines’ (by CZK −3.4 bn). Only imports of ‘general industrial machinery and equipment’ posted an increase of CZK 0.5 bn. Imports of the other commodity groups within 'machinery and transport equipment' remained more or less the same as in August 2011. ‘Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ imports rose by 1.3% (CZK +0.3 bn), y-o-y. Imports of crude petroleum rose by 0.8% in value but it dropped by 1.7% in volume. Natural gas imports increased by 7.5% in value, but it fell by 14.5% in volume.

The trade balance with EU Member States ended a surplus of CZK 49.4 bn, which was by CZK 2.3 bn higher, y-o-y. Trade balance with non-EU countries showed a deficit of CZK 32.5 bn which was by CZK 13.3 bn lower, y-o-y. Surplus rose in trade with the United Kingdom (by CZK 1.3 bn) and Austria (by CZK 1.0 bn). Deficit decreased in trade with China (by CZK 5.9 bn) and the Russian Federation (by CZK 3.4 bn). Balance deteriorated in trade with Norway (by CZK 1.9 bn) and Poland (by CZK 1.1 bn) as a surplus turned into a deficit. A decrease in surplus was recorded in trade with Germany (by CZK 0.8 bn) and Slovakia (by CZK 0.5 bn).

In January – August 2012, exports and imports rose by 8.9% and 4.0% respectively. The trade balance surplus amounting to CZK 206.9 billion was up by CZK 95.9 billion, y-o-y. Surplus rose mainly in ‘machinery and transport equipment’ (by CZK 62.5 bn) and ‘manufactured goods classified chiefly by material’ (by CZK 18.8 bn). On the contrary, deficit increased in ‘chemicals and related products’ (by CZK 6.4 bn) and ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ by CZK 2.9 bn).

The trade balance in national concept (methodology of balance of payments) reflecting performance of the Czech economy showed a deficit of CZK 2.1 bn in August 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 98.0% 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: /csu/czso/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@czso.cz
Contact: Karel Král, Director of External Trade Statistics Department, phone (+420) 274 052 161, E-mail: karel.kral@czso.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): /csu/czso/external-trade-of-the-czech-republic-december-2012-edwombu9aa
External Trade Database: /csu/czso/ep-6-opendocument
Next News Release: November 6, 2012

This press release was not edited for language.

Attachments

⇩ avzo100812.doc
Annexes:
⇩ Table 1 External trade in goods in CZK million, year-on-year indices (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 2 External trade in goods by sections of SITC, in CZK million, share percentage, year-on-year indices (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 3 External trade in goods by group of countries in CZK million, share percentage, year-on-year indices (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 4 External trade in goods in EUR million, year-on-year indices (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 5 External trade in goods in USD million, year-on-year indices (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 6 Time series decomposition – exports, seasonal adjustment (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 7 Time series decomposition – imports, seasonal adjustment (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Table 8 Main external trade statistics indicators based on the national concept (the principle of change in ownership)
⇩ Table 9 External trade by the residency of reporting entities in 2011 and 2012 (border statistics)
⇩ Graph 1 Exports in CZK billion (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Graph 2 Imports in CZK billion (‘border statistics’)
⇩ Graph 3 Balance in CZK million, year-on-year-changes (‘border statistics’)