Export and import of mineral raw materials
Information on the trade turnover in exports and imports of mineral 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 2014 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 export/import values are presented both in PLN and Euro.
The data on mineral raw materials turnover in 2006-2014 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. The officially presented data (by Central Statistical Office of Poland) cover only the magnitude of natural gas imported by Poland but without publishing the directions of imports. Therefore, such data are not included in this study. Nevertheless, it should be noted that in analyzed period natural gas import increased from 9-10 billion m3 in 2006-2010 to about 11.8 billion m3 in 2013. Information covering 2014 will be issued later. Therefore, it is worth mentioning that the balance of mineral raw materials turnover is higher than the balance taking into account these figures.
The total value of the raw materials exports decreased by 5.4 % in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 52,085 million (Euro 12,452 million) in 2014. The imports value amounted to PLN 95,516 million (Euro 22,838 million) and decreased by 1.14 %. The exports-imports turnover balance was still negative and amounted to PLN 43,430 million (Euro 10,386 million) in 2014 (excluding natural gas).
The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2014, were: petroleum products (29.13 % of the total import value), hard coal and coal derivatives (14.95 %), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (15.36 %), iron and ferroalloys (6.99 %), silver (5.00 %), aluminum (4.77 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (4.52 %) and zinc (3.04 %).
The highest values of imports, causing negative balance of the turnover value, related to such raw materials as: crude oil (56.00 % of the total import value), petroleum products (13.36 %), aluminum (4.95 %), iron and ferroalloys (4.23 %), hard coal and coal derivatives (3.49 %), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (3.22 %), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (1.96 %), potassium raw materials (1.16%), silica (0.88 %) and dimension and crushed stones (0.87 %).
The total quantity of the raw materials imports increased (by 4.75 %) in 2014 and amounted to 62,690 thousand tonnes, while the export quantity decreased (by 1.61 %) and amounted to 35,948 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 2014
Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2014
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 but 2014 was the second consecutive year with the balance decline. For three remaining 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 2005, while for chemical raw materials the balance remained slightly positive till 2009 and then dropped significantly in the next four years. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 12 billion m3) the balance would drop in 2014 to about - 25.3 million tonnes. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about
– 35.4 million tonnes.
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 (in 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 decreased substantially in 2006-2008 and in 2010-2012. This negative tendency was stopped in 2009 and 2013. The lowest level was attained in 2011 - it amounted to PLN -48.82 billion and improved significantly in 2013 – amounted to PLN -41.56 billion. The quantity balance declined significantly in 2006-2011 with slightly growth in 2009. There was significant improvement of the balance in 2012-2013 when it amounted to -23.31 million tonnes. The balance dropped minutely in 2014. Taking into account the magnitude of gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 12 billion m3) the balance would drop in 2014 to about – 35.4 million tonnes.
The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2013-2014 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 metals export (by 1.5 %) and metals import (by 1.2 %). The highest decreases were observed within fuels export (by 2.3 %) and fuels import (by 1.8 %). 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 2013-2014
Figure 6. Contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2013-2014
Regarding quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that rocks export increased significantly in 2014 (by 0.60 million tonnes). Metal and chemical raw materials exports magnitude rose by 0.55 million tonnes and 0.12 million tonnes respectively. Fuels export decreased by 1.85 million tonnes in 2014 (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2013-2014 (million tonnes)
There were imports growths within all of raw materials groups. Fuels imports increased by 0.97 million tonnes in 2014 while metals import by 0.82 million tonnes, rocks by 0.72 million tonnes and chemical raw materials by 0.33 million tonnes (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2013-2014 (million tonnes)
Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2013-2014.
Total import value in 2014 decreased by 1.14 % and export value by 5.40 % in comparison with 2013. The import value significantly increased in rock, metal and chemical groups (by 13.37 %, 6.94 % and 4.54 % respectively) while there were drop observed within fuels – by 3.53 %. Export value rose by 3.27 % for chemicals and by 1.15 % for rocks, whereas there were drops noted for fuels (by 9.61 %) and metals (by 1.65 %).
Total import magnitude in 2014 increased by 4.75 % and export decreased by 1.61 % in comparison with 2013. The import quantity increased within all four groups: rock raw materials (by 11.06 %), metals (by 8.68 %), chemicals (by 6.82 %) and fuels (by only 2.48 %). The export quantity increased within three groups of mineral raw materials – by 16.77 % (metals), 14.49 % (rocks) and 3.05 % (chemicals). Fuels export decreased by 7.35 %.
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, similarly to the previous years, the highest value was reached by raw materials export to Germany. The export value to this country amounted to PLN 13,789 million, which constituted 26.47 % 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 (11.41 %) and United Kingdom (6.37 %) (Figure 9). The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 23,051 million (44.26 % of the total export value).
Figure 9. Polish raw materials export in 2014, by countries
The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2014 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 56,660 million, which constitutes 59.32 % of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (7.43 %) and Kazakhstan (5.50 %) (Figure 10). The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 69,015 million (72.26 % of the total import value).
Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2014, by countries
Prepared by: Krzysztof Szamałek, Marcin Tymiński
Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials imports and exports in 2014.