Exports and imports of mineral raw materials
Information on the trade turnover in exports and imports of raw materials in Poland was prepared on the basis of data collected by Polish Custom Service. These data come from special custom statements - SAD (in case of the trade turnover by European Union countries to/from non-EU countries) and INTRASTAT (in case of export and import within EU). Information is prepared according to Combined Nomenclature (CN), which is deeply connected with the international classification system named Harmonized System - HS. Combined Nomenclature is the obligatory one in Polish Customs Tariff since 1991. The Combined Nomenclature is the part of the Integrated Tariff of the European Communities (TARIC) which was established by virtue of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Regulation (EC) No 1789/2003 of 11 October 2003 amended the Regulation mentioned above. The Regulation established in 2003 is the obligatory one in Poland since the 1st of May 2004.
In 2011 summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland was presented in four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The total magnitude and value of imports-exports of the raw materials as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1.
The data on raw materials turnover in 2006-2011 do not cover natural gas. Data on natural gas export and import are not available since 2006 due to the confidentiality of the information – according to the Regulation (EC) No 638/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on Community statistics relating to the trading of goods between Member States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3330/91. Natural gas export in Poland amounts only to dozens million m3 annually and the lack of data does not affect the total balance of raw materials turnover. The lack of data on natural gas import to Poland (about 6-7 billion m3 with total value of PLN 5-6 billion) brings down the total amount and value of raw materials brought to Poland. Therefore, the balance of mineral raw materials turnover will be higher than the balance taking into account these figures.
The total value of the raw materials exports increased by 32.28 % in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 53,469 million (USD 18,244 million) in 2011. The imports value amounted to PLN 100,127 million (USD 34,080 million) and was by 34.76 % higher than in 2010. The exports-imports turnover balance was still negative and amounted to PLN 46,659 million in 2011 (excluding natural gas).
The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2011, were: petroleum products (23.09 %), hard coal and coal derivatives (21.59 % of the total import value), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (18.22 %), silver (7.68 %), iron and ferroalloys (7.04 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (4.77 %), aluminum (3.31 %), zinc (1.57 %) and salt and sodium compounds (1.45 %).
The highest values of imports, causing negative balance of the turnover value, related to such raw materials as: crude oil (52.76 % of the total import value), petroleum products (17.42 %), hard coal and coal derivatives (6.40 %), iron (4.10 %), aluminum (4.01 %) and copper ores (2.12 %), potassium raw materials (1.16 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (1.16 %), dimension and crushed stones (1.06 %), phosphorites (0.93 %), refractory materials (0.35 %), cement (0.28 %) and insulating materials (0.27 %).
The total quantity of the raw materials imports increased significantly (by 12 %) in 2011 and amounted to 73,351 thousand tones, while the export quantity dropped by 4.47 % and amounted to 30,533 thousand tones.
Figures 1 and 2 show the structure of exports and imports in Poland, i.e. total values and shares of various groups of commodities in the international turnover.
Figure 1. The structure of mineral raw materials exports in Poland in 2011
Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2011
Table 2 shows imports-exports balance values of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.
Speaking about data from Table 2 it can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the turnover balance remains positive, while for other raw material groups the balance is clearly negative (especially for fuels).
Table 3 shows imports-exports balance quantity of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.
The turnover balance within fuels, metals and rocks has been negative since 2002, while for chemical raw materials the balance remained slightly positive till 2009 and then dropped significantly in the next two years.
The variation of the imports-exports balance by value and quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Due to the lack of data on natural gas there are two versions of the graph presented on each figure – first reflecting natural gas (till 2005) and the second one excluding natural gas.
Figure 3. Balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN billion)
Figure 4. Balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (million tones)
The quantity balance has been declining till 2004 and in the 2006-2008 period. There were only two years when it rose – 2005 and 2009. In 2011 it declined to -42.82 million tones. The value balance has been quite constant in 2002-2004, then it decreased substantially. It amounted to PLN -39,15 billion in 2008, then it rose to PLN -27.75 billion in 2009 and declined to PLN -46.66 billion in 2011.
The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2010-2011 are presented in Figures 5 and 6. The highest increases of the turnover value with respect to the previous year took place in fuels import (by 1.5 %) and fuel export (by 0.8 %). The highest decreases of the turnover value was observed within metals import and export (by 1.2 % and 0.8 % respectively). Fuels are still the most important group especially in Polish imports (due to the crude oil and petroleum products) but they are also contributing strongly in exports value (mainly thanks to the petroleum products and hard coal).
Figure 5. Contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2010-2011
Figure 6. Contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2010-2011
Regarding quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that fuels export decreased significantly in 2011 (by 2.47 million tones). Chemical and rock raw materials exports magnitude was quite constant in the analyzed period. Metallic raw materials export increased by 0.49 million tones in 2011 (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2010-2011 (million tones)
Fuels and metals imports have not changed significantly in 2011, but there has been significant growth within rock raw materials group – by 5.78 million tones. Chemical raw materials import increased by 0.45 million tones. (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2010-2011 (million tones)
Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2010-2011.
Total import value in 2011 increased by 34.76 % and export value by 32.38 % in comparison with 2010. The highest import value increase was noted for fuels (by 37.38 %) but there were also significant growths within chemical (by 31.11 %), rock (by 30.44 %) and metallic raw materials (by 23.09 %). Export value rose by 38.63 % within chemicals, 34.38 % in fuels, 29.72 % in metals and only 21.09 % in rock raw materials.
Total import magnitude in 2011 increased by 12.00 % and export decreased by 4.47 % in comparison with 2010. The import quantity increased by 66.36 % within rock raw materials, by 9.68 % within chemicals and by 4.28 % within fuels. There was a little drop in metallic raw materials import (by 0.22 million tones – 2.53 %). The export quantity increased significantly within two groups of mineral raw materials – by 19.37 % in metals and 12.00 % in rocks. Chemical raw materials export increased by only 4.00 % and there was considerable drop within fuels – by 2.47 million tones (11.26 %).
Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There where 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).
Regarding the exports directions, the highest value reached raw materials export to Germany. The export value to this country was PLN 14,284 million, which constituted 26.72 % of the total Polish raw materials exports value. Other important countries with significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were Czech Republic (8.66 %) and United Kingdom (7.85 %) (Figure 9). The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 23,115 million.
Figure 9. Polish raw materials export in 2011, by countries
The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2011 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 57,605 million, which constitutes 57,53 % of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (7.87 %) and Norway (4.78 %) (Figure 10). The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 70,269 million.
Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2011, by countries
Prepared by: Marcin Tymiński
Table 1. Mineral raw material imports and exports in 2011.