Market Briefing – Czech Republic

Buildings in the old sector of Prague	17th International Trade Fair of Electrotechnics and Electronics AMPER 2009	National Trade Promotion Agency of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic

ECONOMIC SITUATION
The Czech Republic is located in central Europe, bordering Slovakia in the east, Austria in the south, Germany in the west and Poland in the northeast, with Prague at its capital. It is rich in lignite, anthracite and uranium ore resources, of which lignite and anthracite mine reserves are around 13.4 billion tons, making it third in the world and the fifth in Europe. There are very little petroleum, natural gas and iron sand reserves, so the country relies on imports. Other mineral resources are manganese, aluminium, zinc, fluorite, graphite and kaolin. Forests cover an area is 2,651 thousand hectares, accounting for 34% of country’s land area. There several hydroelectric power stations on the Vltava River.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES:
Agriculture
In 2007, the value of agricultural gross output was 125.6 billion koruna, a drop of 18.08% when compared to the same period of the previous year. Agricultural land area was 4,249 thousand hectares, of which 3,032 thousand hectares are cultivated. Agricultural population of 191,900 accounted for 4.3% of the national labour force. The main exported agricultural products were: barley, animal feed, hops, pork, dairy products and the main imported products were: fruit, nuts, vegetables, vegetable oil, fish, rabbit, non alcoholic beverage, rice, tobacco and coffee.

Industries
In 2007, the industrial gross output was 1,153.8 billion koruna (nearly US$56.8 billion), an increase of 10.8% when compared to the previous year and accounted for around 32.4% of the GDP. The key industries were machinery, chemical, metallurgy, textiles, electricity, food, shoemaking, wood processing and glasswork, employing 1,325 thousand people, nearly one third of the labour force. Moreover, the automotive industry is the key processing industry in the Czech Republic, accounting for 20% of the Czech Republic economy, while cars are also the largest exported commodity from the Czech Republic, making up 9% of the country’s total exports.

Tourism
The tourism industry is an important source of economic revenue for the Czech Republic. In 2008, there was about 100 million overseas visitors, earned foreign exchange of US$7.7 billion. Visitors came mainly from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom among others. The Czech Republic has many tourist centres. Old Prague is the main travel destination and also the main entrance to the rest of the Czech Republic. Other cities in the Czech Republic have also attracted a large number of visitors such as Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.

Source:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/default.htm

Source: CIA- The World Fact Book-Mozambique, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mz.html

Major Website Recommendations :
National Institute of statistics, Czech Republic
http://www.czso.cz/eng/redakce.nsf/i/home
As the official statistics agency of the government, the National Institute of Statistics of Czech Republic is in charge of the production and provision of quality statistical data.

Czech Republic (government portal)
http://www.vlada.cz/en/default.htm

Source:
1. CIA-The World Fact Book- Czech Republic, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ez.html
2. Index Mundi-Country Facts, http://indexmundi.com/

Major Exports: Cars and parts, electricity, steel, machinery and equipment, glass, wood, chemical products, tyres, furniture.
Main Imports: Oil, gas, computers, cars and accessories, telecommunications equipment, machinery and equipment, medical products and equipment,iron ore, trucks and household appliances.

Source:
CIA-The World Fact Book- Czech Republic, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ez.html

Source: Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, http://ozs.mofcom.gov.cn/

Source: The Statistics and Census Service, http://www.dsec.gov.mo/

Source:
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/default.htm
2. The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.mofcom.gov.c n/
3. The Economic and Commercial Counselor Office of the Embassy of the
People’s Republic of China in the Czech Republic
http://cz.mofcom.gov.cn/index.shtml
4. Macao Statistics and Census Service
http://www.dsec.gov.mo/c_index.html
5. The World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/