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.
Summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2016 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and value for the total of imports-exports 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 2006-2016 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 from Poland amounts only to dozens million m3 annually and the lack of data does not affect the total balance of the raw materials turnover. The lack of data on natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and value of raw materials bought by Poland. The data officially presented by the Central Statistical Office of Poland cover only the magnitude of natural gas imported by Poland but without publishing the imports directions. Therefore, such data are not included in this study. Nevertheless, it should be noted that in the analyzed period natural gas import increased from 9-10 billion m3 in 2007-2010 to about 11.5 billion m3 in 2015. Information covering 2016 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 raw materials export value decreased by 11.07% in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 43,715,989 thousand (Euro 10,055,100 thousand) in 2016. The imports value amounted to PLN 71,447,197 thousand (Euro 16,435,763 thousand) and decreased by 7.18%. The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative, at the similar level as in 2015 (decreased by only PLN 84,150 thousand). It amounted to PLN 27,731,208 thousand (Euro 6,380,663 thousand) – excluding natural gas.
The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2016, were: crude oil and petroleum products (23.05% of the total export value), hard coal and coal derivatives (17.93%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (14.49%), silver (6.27%), aluminum (6.16%), iron and ferroalloys (5.94%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (5.07%), precious metals (4.44%) and zinc (2.70%; Fig. 1).
The highest values of imports, causing negative balance of the turnover value, related mainly to the such raw materials as: crude oil and petroleum products (56.50% of the total import value), aluminum (8.22%), iron and ferroalloys (5.06%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (4.43%), hard coal and coal derivatives (4.23%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (2.80%), precious metals (1.93%), zinc (1.65%) and potassium raw materials (1.60%; Fig. 2).
The total quantity of the raw materials imports increased by 1.94% in 2016 and amounted to 65,249 thousand tonnes, while the export quantity decreased by 3.24% and amounted to 35,880 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 2016
Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2016
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. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. For three remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative. Chemical raw materials are characterized by the declining tendency, especially in 2009-2016; for fuels such tendency was stopped couple of times – in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016; the balance for rock raw materials was decreasing till 2011 and such negative trend has been stopped in the following years.
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 2007. In the case of metallic raw materials the negative tendency has been occurring since 2012, the balance for fuels and rocks – after significant drops in 2008-2011 – have been characterized by a quite stable level in the last few years. For chemical raw materials the balance remained slightly positive till 2009 and then dropped significantly in the next seven 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 11.5 million t/y) the balance would drop in 2016 to about -29.1 million tonnes. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -39.9 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.
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 2008 and in 2010-2012. The lowest level was attained in 2011 - it amounted to PLN -48.09 billion. The balance improved significantly in 2013 (amounted to PLN -40.94 billion) and 2015 (amounted to PLN -27.65 billion). The quantity balance was declining significantly in 2008-2011 with a slightly growth in 2009. There was significant improvement of the balance in 2012-2013 when it amounted to -23.31 million tonnes. In 2014-2016 the balance decreased slightly to the level of -29 million tonnes. Taking into account the magnitude of gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 11.5 billion m3) the balance would drop in 2016 to about -40 million tonnes.
The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2015-2016 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 import (by 3.5%) and export (by 3.2%). The highest decreases were observed within fuels import (by 4.4%) and fuels export (by 3.9%). 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 2015–2016
Figure 6. Contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2015–2016
Regarding quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that only metals export increased (slightly) in 2016 (by 0.04 million tonnes). Fuels export dropped by 0.76 million tonnes, chemical raw materials exports magnitude declined by 0.33 million tonnes and rocks export by 0.15 million tonnes (Fig. 7).
Figure 7. Magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2015–2016 (million tonnes)
There were imports growths within two out of four raw materials groups. Fuels imports increased by 1.08 million tonnes in 2016 while chemicals import by 0.43 million tonnes. Rock raw materials import decreased by 0.18 million tonnes and metals by 0.09 million tonnes (Fig. 8).
Figure 8. Magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2015–2016 (million tonnes)
Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2015–2016.
Total import value in 2016 decreased by 7.18% and export value by 11.07% in comparison with 2015. The import value increased significantly in metal and rock groups (by 7.77% and 5.78%, respectively), while there was a visible drop observed within fuels – by 13.26% and a slight drop within chemicals – by 2.46%. Export value rose by 8.69% for rocks, whereas there were drops noted for fuels (by 18.35%), chemicals (by 14.47%) and metals (by 3.82%).
Total import magnitude in 2016 increased by 1.94% and export magnitude decreased by 3.24% in comparison with 2015. The import quantity increased within two groups: chemical raw materials (by 8.07%) and fuels (by 2.64%). The drop was observed in rocks – by 2.57% and in metals – by 0.83%. The export quantity increased only for metals – by 1.32%, other groups were characterized by decreases – by 7.37%, 3.44% and 3.03% for chemicals, rocks and fuels, respectively.
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 – similarly to the previous years – was reached by raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 9,932 million, which constituted 22.72% 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 (13.93%) and Netherlands (6.53%; Fig. 9). These three items on the list of the export directions have not changed in comparison with 2015. The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 18,876 million (43.18% of the total export value).
Figure 9. Polish raw materials export in 2016, by countries
The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2016 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 31,530 million, which constitutes 44.13% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (12.06%) and Norway (2.96%; Fig. 10). Russia and Germany remained at the same positions as in 2015, whereas Norway replaced Kazakhstan. The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 42,261 million (59.15% of the total import value).
Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2016, by countries
There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.
Prepared by: Marcin Tymiński
Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials imports and exports in 2016.