International trade in goods (change of ownership) - July 2021

The total balance of international trade¹⁾ in goods²⁾ was negatively affected mainly by a y−o−y higher trade deficit in 'crude petroleum and natural gas' by CZK 6.8 bn, 'basic metals' by CZK 5.2 bn, and 'chemicals and chemical products' by CZK 2.4 bn. Further, surplus in 'motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers' decreased by CZK 3.2 bn; and the trade balance in 'electrical equipment' deteriorated by CZK 2.4 bn as a surplus turned into a deficit.

The total balance was favourably influenced mainly by a larger trade surplus in 'waste products' by CZK 1.6 bn and in commodities in division 'electricity, gas and steam' by CZK 1.3 bn. 

Y−o−y, exports increased by 4.3% to CZK 299.8 bn and imports grew by 12.3% to CZK 307.1 bn. July 2021 had two working days less than July 2020.

In the period from January to July 2021, the trade balance surplus reached CZK 77.6 bn, which represented an increase by CZK 18.1 bn, y−o−y. From the beginning of the year, exports and imports grew by 21.3% and 21.0%, respectively, y−o−y.

Month-on-month, the seasonally adjusted exports grew by 3.1% while imports fell by 1.3%. The trend shows increasing exports (+0.9%) and imports (+0.7%).

In July 2021, the trade balance with the EU27³⁾ Member States ended in a surplus of CZK 44.2 bn, which was CZK 5.4 bn lower, y−o−y. The highest y−o−y decreases of surplus were recorded in trade with Germany (by CZK 3.2 bn), the Netherlands (by CZK 1.6 bn) and Slovakia (by CZK 1.0 bn).

In July 2021, exports to Eurozone countries constituted 64.8% of all Czech exports; imports from Eurozone countries to the Czech Republic constituted 49.4% of all Czech imports. Y−o−y, exports to the Eurozone went up by 5.3% (CZK +9.8 bn) to CZK 194.4 bn; imports from the Eurozone increased by 12.0% (CZK +16.2 bn) and reached CZK 151.6 bn. In July 2021, the Czech crown strengthened against the Euro on average by 3.4%, y−o−y.

The trade deficit with non−EU27 countries increased by CZK 15.7 bn to reach an amount of CZK 49.5 bn. The trade balance deteriorated with the Russian Federation and Turkey by CZK 5.8 bn and CZK 2.4 bn, respectively, as a surplus turned into a deficit. The trade deficit deepened with Japan by CZK 2.7 bn.

The CZSO has carried out the final revision of the annual data. According to the final 2020 data, y−o−y exports and imports fell by 5.7% to CZK 3 483.1 bn and by 6.9% to CZK 3 303.1 bn, respectively. Balance of international trade in goods for the year 2020 reached a surplus of CZK 179.9 bn against CZK 145.7 bn in 2019.

Data for companies, which are subject to the reporting duty and which failed to report data (non-response), has been imputed according to dispatches and receptions these companies reported in the previous period. Data for companies exempted from the reporting duty were estimated on the basis of the data given in the VAT return forms. The data, which were not available from the VAT return forms, are estimated on the basis of the values for previous periods.

Data for respective months of 2021 is preliminary; data up to and including year 2020 is final. When data for the reference month is published, six previous months are updated. All months with preliminary data are updated when data for January, March and July is published. Final data is published always in  September of the following year.

Responsible head at the CZSO: Miluše Kavěnová, Director of International Trade Statistics Department, phone number (+420) 274 054 176, e-mail: miluse.kavenova@czso.cz
Contact person: Stanislav Konvička, Head of Trade Balance Unit, phone number (+420) 274 054 254, e-mail: stanislav.konvicka@czso.cz
Method of data collection: Intrastat forms and single administrative documents and value added tax return forms
End of data collection: 20th working day after the end of the reference month
Following data sets: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/vzonu_cr
Next News Release will be published on: October 7, 2021