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 2012 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 2006-2012 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 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 8.43 % in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 57,977 million (USD 17,740 million) in 2012. The imports value amounted to PLN 105,868 million (USD 32,468 million) and was higher than in 2011 by 5.73 %. The exports-imports turnover balance was still negative and amounted to PLN 47,891 million in 2012 (excluding natural gas).
The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2012, were: crude oil and petroleum products (28.58 % of the total import value), hard coal and coal derivatives (17.14 %), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (16.72 %), silver (7.52 %), iron and ferroalloys (6.53 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (4.93 %), aluminum (3.07 %) and zinc (1.48 %).
The highest values of imports, causing negative balance of the turnover value, related to such raw materials as: crude oil (60.35 % of the total import value), petroleum products (12.69 %), hard coal and coal derivatives (4.36 %), iron (3.69 %), aluminum (3.59 %) and copper ores (2.67 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (1.35 %), potassium raw materials (1.21 %), phosphorites (0.92 %) and dimension and crushed stones (0.88 %).
The total quantity of the raw materials imports decreased significantly (by 11.94 %) in 2012 and amounted to 64,586 thousand tonnes, while the export quantity slightly increased (by 2.16 %) and amounted to 31,188 thousand tonnes.
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 2012
Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2012
Table 2 shows values of imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.
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 2003, while for chemical raw materials the balance remained slightly positive till 2009 and then dropped significantly in the next three 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 tonnes)
The value balance has been quite constant in 2003-2004 and then decreased substantially till 2008 and in 2010-2011. It amounted to PLN -47.89 billion in 2012. The quantity balance has been declining till 2004 and in the 2006-2008 and 2009-2011 periods. There were only three years when it rose – 2005, 2009 and 2012. In 2012 it amounted to -33.40 million tonnes.
The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2011-2012 are presented in Figures 5 and 6. The highest increase in the contribution to the turnover value with respect to the previous year took place in fuels export (by 0.6 %) and fuels import (by 0.5 %). The highest decreases were observed within rocks import (by 0.5 %) and chemicals export (by 0.4 %). 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 2011-2012
Figure 6. Contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2011-2012
Regarding quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that fuels export increased significantly in 2012 (by 0.93 million tonnes). Metallic and rock raw materials exports magnitude was quite constant in the analyzed period. Chemical raw materials export decreased by 0.37 million tonnes in 2012 (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2011-2012 (million tonnes)
Fuels and rocks imports dropped significantly in 2012 (by 4.90 and 3.90 million tonnes respectively) while chemicals import decreased by only 0.7 million tonnes. There has been significant growth within metallic raw materials group – by 0.73 million tonnes (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2011-2012 (million tonnes)
Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2011-2012.
Total import magnitude in 2012 decreased by 11.94 % and export increased by 2.16 % in comparison with 2011. The import quantity increased only within metallic raw materials (by 8.62 %). There were significant drops in other groups - by 26.92 % within rocks, 13.73 % within fuels and 10.82 % within fuels. The export quantity increased within two groups of mineral raw materials – by 5.63 % (metals) and 4.78 % (fuels). Chemical raw materials export decreased by 7.91 % and rocks by
2.08 %.
Total import magnitude in 2012 decreased by 11.94 % and export increased by 2.16 % in comparison with 2011. The import quantity increased only within metallic raw materials (by 8.62 %). There were significant drops in other groups - by 26.92 % within rocks, 13.73 % within fuels and 10.82 % within fuels. The export quantity increased within two groups of mineral raw materials – by 5.63 % (metals) and 4.78 % (rocks). Chemical raw materials export decreased by 7.91 % and rocks by
2.08 %.
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 was reached by raw materials export to Germany. The export value to this country amounted to PLN 13,837 million, which constituted 23.87 % of the total Polish raw materials exports value. Other important countries with significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were United Kingdom (9.95 %) and Czech Republic (7.72 %) (Figure 9). The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 24,079 million (41.53 % of the total export value).
Figure 9. Polish raw materials export in 2012, by countries
The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2012 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 69,998 million, which constitutes 66.12 % of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (6.45 %) and Norway (3.27 %) (Figure 10). The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 80,294 million (75.84 % of the total import value).
Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2012, by countries
Prepared by: Marcin Tymiński
Table 1. Mineral raw materials imports and exports in 2012.