FX.co ★ Czech Industrial Output Falls Further, Trade Surplus Grows

In December, the Czech Republic witnessed a continued decline in industrial production for the third consecutive month, while the trade surplus expanded due to a more pronounced growth in exports compared to imports, as reported by the Czech Statistical Office on Thursday.

Industrial production experienced a year-on-year decline of 3.0% in December, adjusted for working days, following a 2.7% decrease in November. Forecasts had anticipated a 3.5% drop. Within the various sectors, the mining and quarrying industry saw the steepest contraction, plummeting by 14.7% compared to the previous year. Manufacturing also reported a decline of 3.1%. Conversely, there was a positive development in the utilities sector, which witnessed a modest production increase of 0.2%.

On a month-to-month analysis, industrial output actually rose by 0.7% in December.

In the construction sector, there was a significant annual growth of 9.7% and a monthly increase of 4.5% in December.

Another report from the Czech Statistical Office highlighted that the national trade surplus increased to CZK 6.8 billion in December, up from CZK 4.6 billion in the same month the previous year. In contrast, November displayed a trade surplus of CZK 21.67 billion.

For December, exports jumped by 9.1% year-on-year, while imports increased by 8.5%.

Throughout 2024, the total trade surplus for the Czech Republic amounted to CZK 223.2 billion, a substantial rise from CZK 122.5 billion in 2023. Both exports and imports experienced growth, with respective increases of 4.9% and 2.7%.