The surplus in Poland’s foreign trade is due to the higher activity of exporters who took advantage of the increase in demand for industrial goods in the European Union, report Polish Economic Institute analysts.
Polish Economic Institute (PIE) analyst Jakub Rybacki referred to data published by Statistics Poland (GUS), which reported that the surplus in foreign trade after February 2021 amounted to €2 billion.
“This result is in line with the growth trend visible since the beginning of the pandemic,” he stated.
Rybacki pointed out that the surplus is the result of the activity of exporters, among other things, who took advantage of the rise in demand for industrial goods in the EU in the second half of 2020. The highest results were noted among exporters who sent goods to Germany and Italy. Their dynamic reached 6.9 percent and 6 percent year-to-year respectively.
The analyst also noted the increasing activity of Polish companies in new foreign markets during the pandemic. He explained that the growth rate of export to developing countries has exceeded 10 percent and the share of goods sent to those economies since the start of 2021 has risen from 17.8 percent to 20.2 percent of the entire Polish export.
Rybacki underlined that at the same time, import is growing less quickly than export.
“Due to lower mobility and the imposed higher share of remote work, Poland has been importing less petroleum and other energy resources. Companies have also been importing fewer capital goods due to the suspension of investments at the start of the pandemic,” he wrote in his analysis.
He added that these factors will most likely be short-term and starting with the second half of 2021, the current surplus will begin to melt.
