World Grain - August 2012 - 22

COUNTRYFOCUS

Focus on Czech Republic
Country posted a record year for grain exports in 2011-12
by Chris Lyddon

Key Facts
Capital: Prague Population: 10,177,300 (July 2011 est.) Religions: Roman Catholic 26.8%, Protestant 2.1%, other 3.3%, unspecified 8.8%, unaffiliated 59% (2001 census). Location: Central Europe, between Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria. Government: Parliamentary democracy. Chief of state: President Vaclav Klaus (since March 7, 2003); head of government: Prime Minister Petr Necas (since June 28, 2010). Economy: The Czech Republic is a stable and prosperous market economy, which harmonized its laws and regulations with those of the E.U. prior to its E.U. accession in 2004. While the conservative, inward-looking Czech financial system has remained relatively healthy, the small, open, export-driven Czech economy remains sensitive to changes in the economic performance of its main export markets, especially Germany. When Western Europe and Germany fell into recession in late 2008, demand for Czech goods plunged, leading to double-digit drops in industrial production and exports. As a result, real GDP fell 4.7% in 2009, with most of the decline occurring during the first quarter. Real GDP, however, has slowly recovered with positive quarter-on-quarter growth starting in the second half of 2009 and continuing throughout 2011. The auto industry remains the largest single industry, and, together with its upstream suppliers, accounts for nearly 24% of Czech manufacturing. The Czech Republic produced more than a million cars for the first time in 2010, over 80% of which were exported. Foreign and domestic businesses alike voice concerns about corruption, especially in public procurement. Other long-term challenges include dealing with a rapidly aging population, funding an unsustainable pension and health care system, and diversifying away from manufacturing and toward a more high-tech, servicesbased, knowledge economy. GDP per capita: $27,400 (2011 est.); inflation: 1.9% (2011 est.); unemployment: 8.5% (2011 est.). Currency: koruny (CZK): 21.119 koruny’s equal 1 U.S. dollar (July 23, 2012). Exports: $146.7 billion (2011 est.): machinery and transport equipment, raw materials and fuel, chemicals. Imports: $143.5 billion (2011 est.): machinery and transport equipment, raw materials and fuels, chemicals. Major crops/agricultural products: Wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, hops, fruit; pigs, poultry. Agriculture: 1.6% of GDP and 3.1% of the labor force. Internet: Code: .cz; 4.14 million (2010) hosts and 6.681 million (2009) users.
Source: CIA World Factbook

The Czech Republic, a landlocked country in Central Europe, has existed since 1993, when it was formed during the peaceful breakup of the former Czechoslovakia, which had returned to democracy in the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989. The Czech Republic joined the European Union (E.U.) in 2004 and its agricultural policy is run under the E.U.’s Common Agricultural Policy. The International Grains Council (IGC) forecasts the Czech Republic’s total grain production in 2012-13 at 6.8 million tonnes, down from 6.9 million the year before. Of that total, 3.9 million tonnes are wheat, down from 5 million the year before. 1.6 million tonnes are barley, down from 1.8 million tonnes. The E.U.’s grain traders’ organization COCERAL puts the Czech Republic’s soft wheat production at 4.212 million tonnes in 2012, down from 4.798 million the year before. Its ﬁgure for Czech durum production in both years is 200,000 tonnes. It puts Czech barley production in 2012 at 1.728 million tonnes, compared with 1.887 million the year before, while maize production is projected at 1.05 million tonnes, up from 870,000. According to the Czech farm ministry’s Situation and Outlook report, total grain imports in 2011-12 are GERMANY 115,000 tonnes, with exports at 2.688 million POLAND tonnes. This record ﬁgure includes 1.688 milCZECH REPUBLIC lion tonnes of wheat. 2.659 million tonnes of the total export ﬁgure will go to other E.U. SLOVAKIA AUSTRIA member states, with 29,000 tonnes going outHUNGARY side the E.U. According to the Czech ministry of agricult ture, agricultural entrepreneurs now farm around 4.2 mili lion hectares of agricultural land in the Czech Republic, around half (54 %) of the total area of the country. “There is 0.42 hectares of agricultural land per one member of the population of the country, 0.30 hectares of this being arable land (roughly the European average),” it says on its website. “More than one-third of the land fund of the Czech Republic consists of forest land. There has been a decline in agricultural land of 15,000 hectares and a rise of 16,000 hectares of
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