Czech Republic is exporting less to Ukraine

The crisis in Crimea influenced the Czech export to Ukraine, its amount decreased by 28,8 percent. In February, Czech Republic exported less goods to Russia as well, their value was 306 million euros. This represented a decrease of 0,4 percent. These are the official numbers published by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) on Monday 7^th April.

Nevertheless, the Confederation of Industry stressed that the contemporaneous deflection is, in terms of the total amount of Czech exports to Russia, irrelevant. Last year, Czech Republic exported to Russia goods for more than 4,475 billion euros. Important will be, in the opinion of the Confederation of Industry, the next development of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine.

„In view of the deterioration of the situation in the Eastern part of the Ukraine and the ambiguous EU position, we fear creeping embargo and worsening trade relations between Russia and Ukraine,“ Confederation of Industry spokesman Milan Mostýn said. „Certain Czech companies are talking about a possible decrease in orders and a freeze in the negotiations of several new contracts. The situation could be reflected in the limitation of Russian investments in the local market.“

The UniCredit Bank analyst Pavel Sobíšek, cited by the Czech Press Agency (ČTK), means that the stagnation of the Czech exports to Russia is the consequence of the Russian economy cyclical slowdown.

Czech exports to Russia represented 3,7 percent of the total export volume last year.

Regardless of the crisis in Ukraine, the volume of total Czech exports raised by 15 percent in February.