Starting with the year 2020, the Czech Statistical Office has changed the terminology and the way it presents data for international trade statistics in the Czech Republic. The international trade in goods (change of ownership) refers only to data based on a change of ownership between residents and non-residents (formerly called the national concept of external trade). As regards the cross-border concept of external trade, this is now referred to as “cross-border movements of goods”. For further information see: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/changes-in-international-trade-statistics

Differentiation of terminology:

Statistics on International trade in goods (change of ownership) reflect export and import performance of the Czech economy, i.e. the international trade balance of the Czech Republic. It measures real trade in goods carried out between Czech and foreign entities, i.e. a change of ownership between residents and non-residents. For this reason, it more accurately reflects the real international trade balance of the Czech Republic as opposed to statistics on the cross border movement of goods.

Statistics on Cross border movements of goods reflect only physical movements of goods across the border regardless of whether trade between the Czech and foreign entities occurred. This concept is an important source of information for Eurostat. This data is thus internationally comparable and can be used as an indicator of the development of the value of the trade.

Summary of the Czech approach:

International trade in goods (change of ownership) – the Czech approach in two basic steps:

The main goal of the Czech approach is to have macroeconomically meaningful aggregates.

1.    Exclusion of ALL cross-border movements reported by non-residents to Intrastat and Extrastat.

2.    Inclusion of non-residents’ purchases and sales with Czech residents.

Purchases = Exports

Sales = Imports

Transactions reported by residents remain unchanged

Data sources:

There are two main data sources used for compiling data on International trade in goods (change of ownership):

• Data from statistics on cross-border movements of goods pertaining to exports and imports declared by Czech‑residents (through Intrastat and Extrastat forms);
• Data from VAT tax returns – this data is used to determine the value of goods purchased and sold by non‑resident entities in the territory of the Czech Republic. However, since this data from VAT tax returns does not contain information about the commodity structure of purchases and sales of non-residents in the territory of the Czech Republic, the commodity structure for such purchases and sales needs to be derived from other statistical sources. These sources are the commodity structure of cross-border movements of goods of non‑residents and also industry statistics (pertaining to those Czech-residents who sell their production to non‑residents in the territory of the Czech Republic).

Values of International trade in goods (change of ownership)

Exports of goods (change of ownership)

• The value of exported goods declared at the border crossing by residents and taken from Intrastat and Extrastat data and the value of goods purchased by foreign entities on the territory of the Czech Republic and taken from VAT return forms submitted by non-residents in the Czech Republic.
• The value of export is compiled as FOB type value, i.e. it includes the transactional value of goods and the value of services performed to deliver the goods to the border of the Czech Republic.
• An increase (decrease) of exports of goods (change of ownership) indicates the percentage by which value of exports at current prices grew (fell) in given period compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Imports of goods (change of ownership)

• The value of imported goods declared at the border crossing directly by residents and taken from Intrastat and Extrastat data and the value of goods sold by foreign entities on the territory of the Czech Republic and taken from value added tax return forms submitted by non-residents in the Czech Republic.
• The value of import is compiled as CIF type value, where the value of services (e.g. transport, insurance, transfer, storage of goods etc.) performed to deliver the goods to the border of the Czech Republic is added to the transactional value of goods.
• An increase (decrease) of imports of goods (change of ownership) indicates the percentage by which value of imports at current prices grew (fell) in given period compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Translation of the Cross−border movements of goods data to the International trade in goods (change of ownership) data

The data for non-residents is adjusted when translating from data on the cross-border movements of goods to the International trade in goods (change of ownership). Values of exports and imports of goods reported by Czech entities remain unchanged and they are thus identical in both statistics.

Transition from cross−border movements statistics to the international trade in goods (change of ownership) statistics - CZK million

¹⁾  Physical movements of goods across the border from the CR declared by foreign entities in Intrastat and Extrastat.
²⁾  Value of  purchases of non-residents from residents in the CR given in the VAT return forms.
³⁾  Physical movements of goods across the border to the CR declared by foreign entities in Intrastat and Extrastat.
⁴⁾  Value of sales of non-residents to residents in the CR given in the VAT return forms.
⁵⁾  Casual differencies on the last digit position arise from rounding off the absolute number.

More detailed data:

Use of International trade in goods (change of ownership) data in National accounts data

Data on international trade in goods (change of ownership) is one of the vital parameters for the compilation of the GDP using the expenditure approach and also for the current accounts of the balance of payments. These macroeconomic statistics, besides data on international trade in goods (change of ownership), also include other items, e.g. imports of goods by individuals, imports of services, smuggling, etc. What also differs is the valuation, considering that imports in the international trade in goods (change of ownership) statistics are expressed in prices at the borders of the importing country (CIF), while national accounts (sector accounts and quarterly estimates of the GDP) and balance of payments are expressed in prices of imports at the border of the exporting country (FOB). Exports are in all statistical domains valuated identically in prices at the border of the exporting country (FOB). The difference between both the valuations of goods consists in transport costs and insurance of the goods.

Territorial breakdown

Since 1999, in line with the Commission regulation (EU) the Czech Statistical Office has been using the territorial breakdown according to the Geonomenclature (GEONOM). The international standard of GEONOM is binding for international trade statistics both for the trade between the EU Member States and with non-EU countries.

EU27 (European Union) consists of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. EA19 (euro area) consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Classification breakdown

Data on international trade in goods (change of ownership) is compiled and published according to the breakdown provided in the national version of the Statistical Classification of Products by Activity (CZ-CPA).

Time series

Data on international trade in goods (change of ownership) is compiled in a time series starting in 2005, i.e. following the Czech Republic accession to the European Union and the European single market. Data before 2005, i.e. prior to membership in the single market, can be considered as comparable in terms of methodology both with data on international trade in goods (change of ownership) and with the cross-border movements of goods data.

Revision policy

Starting from data for February 2020 (published on 6 April 2020), the method of updating data on international trade in goods (change of ownership) as well as on the cross-border movements of goods has been changed. 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 shall be published always in September of the following year.

Published data available here:  

Latest figures in News Releases

The schedule of publications - International trade in goods (change of ownership)