PANORAMA OF THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC 2018 ISBN 978-80-906942-7-9 INTRODUCTION BY THE MINISTER INTRODUCTION BY THE MINISTER Dear readers, I am pleased to present what is already the twenty-second edition of the publication “Panorama of the Manufacturing Industry of the Czech Republic”. It has been prepared for you by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in cooperation with the Czech Statistical Office and with the assistance of the Ministry of- Agri culture, selected unions and associations. The publication describes individual divisions of the manufacturing industry of the Czech Republic. It is divided into three areas of the classification of CZ-NACE activities and classification of CZ-CPA commodity external trade. It reflects developments from 2008 to 2018. In this publication we present an overview of the current situation and the level of the industry and its divisions. The development of the Czech economy in 2018 met expectations, and the economy hit the borders of its limits. GDP for the whole of 2018 grew by 3%. Compared to the 4.4% achieved in 2017, this is a signif- icant slowdown, caused by both a lack of work and production capacities and increasing uncertainties in the external environment. In particular, the labour market situation showed clear signs of overheating, which were reflected in record low levels of unemployment rates and high levels of work activity. The total employment rate has already exceeded 75% and has thus reached the highest value in the history of the Czech Republic. At the same time, the general unemployment rate, which was 2.2% in December, de- creased and remained the lowest in the EU. Since April 2018, offers of job vacancies have begun to exceed the number of job seekers, which fell to 232,000 persons in December. Domestic demand has been a decisive factor in economic growth, with higher consumption associated with the growth in employment and wages and consumer optimism. Gross fixed capital production also contributed to the growth of the economy, where investment in construction, thanks to co-financing from European funds, maintained its rapid dynamics. At the same time, the growth of private investment was stimulated by the tension in production capacities and the efforts of companies to stand up to the com- petition. As for the external environment, the EU economy slowed on average to 2% year-on-year in 2018 (from 2.6% in 2017), which had a negative impact on domestic export performance, while net exports slowed economic growth. Dear readers, I believe that this publication, which is unique in bringing data up to the branch structure, will be beneficial for you and will be an important source of information. There is no other such structured material in our country and many years of experience have shown that there is great interest in such a publication. Panorama of the Manufacturing Industry of the Czech Republic, supplemented on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Trade by an interactive viewer of economic in- dicators, thus enables the wide professional public in the Czech Republic and abroad to become acquainted with the results in individual divisions, and at the same time we can also present their results internationally. Nice reading. doc. Ing. Karel Havlíček, Ph.D., MBA Minister of Industry and Trade 3 4 CZECH STATISTICAL OFFICE INTRODUCTION CZECH STATISTICAL OFFICE INTRODUCTION Dear readers, As for every year, this year's edition of Panorama of the Manufacturing Industry, compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade with the help of statistics from the Czech Statistical Office, mirrors the development of this very important area of the Czech economy. In terms of the industrial production volume, 2018 was one of the best years in history. The domestic production of the manufacturing industry increased by 3.3% year-on-year. Compared to 2010, an increase of a remarkable 15% has been recorded. The fact that almost all sectors recorded an increase was also positive. However, a certain slowdown in the growth rate oc- curred in the automotive industry, which was a clear workhorse of the dynamics in the previous five years. The manufacturing industry contributed to the largest share of gross domestic product in 2018. Its prod- ucts are also the most important Czech export article. It also continues to be the largest employer, while the average wage in the industry continues to rise. The manufacturing industry plays an important role in supporting research and development. Companies in the field of motor vehicle production spend the most financial means on R&D in the long term. In terms of the whole of society, 2018 was largely an exceptional, jubilee year, calling for a recapitulation of the century of an independent Czechoslovakia. The Czech Statistical Office is only a few months younger than our country. The Act on the Organisation of the Statistical Service of 1919, the principles of which we still adhere to, was one of the first legislative acts adopted in Czechoslovakia thanks to the preparation and foresight of the “fathers” of Czechoslovak statistics, while publishing and popularising the collected information was part of the work of Czechoslovak statisticians from the very beginning. Issuing publications like the one you are holding in your hands right now is a matter of course. However, it is important to realise that this has not always been the case. After a promising start, Czechoslovak statistics and their service to the general and professional public had to go through several dark periods. First, the Nazi occupation, which, in addition to the ban on publishing data, also claimed the lives of many of the Office's employees, including its Chair. Free access to information (not only statistical information) was not even supported by the post-1948 regime, which degraded the role of statistics to confirming and temporarily even checking the fulfilment of plans for a centrally managed economy. In modern democratic history, the Office once again enjoys all freedoms, including unconditional profes- sional independence. Adversity, however, has come from the element of water, which in 2002 took not only the statisticians’ building in Karlín, but also thousands of volumes from the Central Statistical Library. Despite all the difficulties, however, Czechoslovak and later Czech statistics have always maintained the high level and quality that Czech society can still benefit from even today. The Czechoslovak Statistical Journal from 19201 states in the preface: “It is only when the population sees in the statistical questionnaire not the incomprehensible curiosity of the authority, but a means of allowing citizens to participate in their own self-perceived interest in the desir- able interaction with public authorities, can we say that the land [for statistical collection] has been groomed and promises plenteous fruit of work”. Therefore, I thank not only you, the readers, for your favour and interest in this publication, but also all those who provide data to the Czech Statistical Office and without whom this and similar interesting publications could not be created. Ing. Marek Rojíček, Ph.D President of the Czech Statistical Office 1 The author of the quoted text is Dr. B. Hanosek. 5 6 CONTENT CONTENT INTRODUCTION BY THE MINISTER � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3 CZECH STATISTICAL OFFICE INTRODUCTION � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5 CONFEDERATION OF INDUSTRY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 13 FOOD CHAMBER OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 14 CZECH BEER AND MALT INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 15 ASSOCIATION OF THE TEXTILE-CLOTHING–LEATHER INDUSTRY � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 16 FORESTRY AND WOODWORKING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 17 ASSOCIATION OF THE PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 18 ASSOCIATION OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY OF THE CZECH � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 19 REPUBLIC � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 19 ASSOCIATION OF THE GLASS AND CERAMIC INDUSTRY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 20 UNION OF GLASS AND FASHION JEWELLERY PRODUCERS � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 21 STEEL UNION � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 22 ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ASSOCIATION OF THE CZECH � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 23 REPUBLIC � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 23 ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 24 AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 25 ASSOCIATION OF