Foreign trade in agricultural products in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The article analyses trends in the territorial and commodity structure of the Czech foreign agrarian trade and aims to identify changes which have occurred during the last decade. The main emphasis has been put on the period after the accession to the EU. Primarily such changes are identified, that occurred in the relation to the EU-Member States and to third countries. The results show that the value of agricultural exports and imports was growing during the surveyed period while the growth rate of agricultural exports was above the growth rate of agricultural imports. Agricultural exports increased from CZK 78 billion in 2005 to more than CZK 160 billion in 2013 and the imports rose from CZK 103 billion to more than CZK 184 billion in the same period. The territorial structure of the foreign agrarian trace is continuously concentrating on the EU-Single Market, both in terms of exports and imports. Exports of milk, milk products, cereals, beverages, food preparations, tobacco and tobacco manufactures, cereal preparations, food residues and waste, oilseeds, vegetable fats and oils, sugar and confectionery belong to the most important commodity aggregations. The share of processed products in the total exports increased and reached currently about 7%. The export – import coverage ratio reached a satisfactory trend as well. Although the Czech Republic does not have ideal conditions for the export-oriented agriculture, the country is able to gain comparative advantages, at least at the level of following aggregations: HS10, HS01, HS12, HS24, HS04, HS17, HS15, HS11, HS16, HS22, HS03 a HS13.