Export and import of mineral raw materials

The integrated Tariff of the European Union - TARIC

In relation to the previous editions of “The balance…” a list of presented commodities is updated annually according to the Polish Custom Service tabulations. These tabulations are based on the integrated Tariff of the European Union – TARIC. The legal base for TARIC is the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 dated 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (Official Journal L 256, 07/09/1987). The Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1006/2011 dated 27 September, 2011, amending Annex I to the Regulation No 2658/87 (Official Journal L 282, 28/10/2011).

The TARIC is based on the Combined Nomenclature (CN) which is set up to meet the requirements both of the Common Custom Tariff (CCT) and of the EU’s external trade statistics. The CN is also used in intra-EU trade statistics. The CN was established by the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Every year, Annex I to the basic CN Regulation (No 2658/87) is updated and published as a stand-alone Regulation in the EU’s Official Journal (L series). The CN contains about 10,000 items and works on an 8-digit code system – it is the further development (with the special EU-specific subdivisions) of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS). On a 6-digit level the CN is analogous to the HS. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized System prepared under auspices of the World Customs Organization in Brussels of 14 June 1983 (Official Journal No 11, pos. 62, 1997).

The TARIC is the multilingual database integrating all measures relating to the EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. The TARIC is updated and maintained daily in almost every of the EU languages. The TARIC data are transmitted daily via an electronic network to the Member States, which guarantee immediate and correct information for the national administrations of the Member States, who use this data mainly to feed their national systems for customs clearance, with a goal of maximizing automatic customs clearance.

The TARIC is not legally binding, nevertheless its codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics according to Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 (Official Journal of 3/02/2000).

In Poland, the TARIC database is maintained by the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Integrated Customs Tariff Information System – ISZTAR 3. It provides detailed information concerning commodity turnover to the Customs Administration and to all interested parties concerned by that issue. Both, the EU data coming from the TARIC system and the Polish data (VAT and excise taxes), as well as some national non-tariff measures not integrated in the TARIC database, are presented in the browser. Similarly to the TARIC, the ISZTAR is not legally binding, nevertheless its codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics.

The tendencies of the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland

The accession to the European Union caused substantial changes in the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland – in 2004 and following years. The significant growths of exports and imports value were recorded in 2006 with the magnitude remaining at the similar level as in 2004-2005. Next two years (2007-2008) brought the increase in the import value and volume; the export magnitude decreased while the export value after the drop in 2007 slightly increased in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic crises in 2009 there were drops recorded both for imports and exports – regarding the value and the amount. In 2010 the tendency reversed and growths were noted. In the next two years (2011-2012) such tendency remained regarding the value of the import and the export, whereas the import magnitude grew in 2011, decreased in 2012, and the export volume dropped in 2011 and then increased in 2012. In 2013 the value decreased both for the import and export with the import magnitude drop and the export magnitude increase. In 2014-2015 the value of raw materials turnover dropped. The turnover amount in 2014 decreased for export and increased for import and in 2015 it grew for both turnover aspects. In 2016 the import and export value got better, whereas the import volume grew and the export magnitude decreased. The significant import and the slight export growth were noted in 2017 with the import magnitude growth and the slight export magnitude decline. The similar changes took place in 2018. In 2019, the import decreased, both for the value and for the magnitude, whereas the export value increased slightly and the export volume dropped significantly. In 2020, both the export and the import of the mineral raw materials decreased – not only in terms of value but also magnitude. In 2021, the import tonnage slightly increased, whereas the export tonnage grew significantly; regarding turnover values, there were huge increases recorded – both in imports and in exports of the mineral raw materials. The year 2022 brought significant changes in the turnover – as a result of the invasion of Russia in Ukraine. The international markets changed heavily. Regarding the magnitude, there was a slight export drop and a significant import growth recorded, whereas the changes in an aspect of value were meaningful (prices increases) – both the export and import grew significantly.

The summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2022 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and the value for the total of imports-exports as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1a/1b. The export/import values are presented both in PLN and EUR.

Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials exports and imports in 2022 (value in PLN and in EUR)

Data on the mineral raw materials turnover do not cover natural gas. The data on natural gas export and import are not available since 2006 due to the confidentiality of such 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 is minor (in 2019 amounted to 0.67 bnm³ – about 670 Mt; in 2020 to about 1.32 bnm³ – about 1,323 Mt, in 2021 to about 0.11 bnm³ – about 110 Mt) and the lack of data does not significantly affect the total balance of raw materials trade. The lack of data on the natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and the value of raw materials imported to Poland. Data officially presented by the Central Statistical Office of Poland cover only the amount 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 bnm³ in 2009-2010 to about 14.95 bnm³ in 2018, 16.75 bnm³ in 2019, 16.51 bnm³ in 2020 and 17.54  bnm³ in 2021 (information covering 2022 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 exports and imports of the mineral raw materials in 2022 – the comparison with the previous years

The total raw materials export value increased in 2022 by PLN 34,229,818 k – it means by 42.46% (by EUR 6,936,526 k – it means by 39.31%) in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 114,848,776 k (EUR 24,581,642 k). The imports value amounted to PLN 220,944,886 k (EUR 47,212,534 k), increasing by PLN 92,430,678 k – it means by 71.92% (by EUR 19,090,708 k – it means by 67.89%). The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative and got significantly worse in comparison with 2021 – by PLN 58,200,860 k (EUR 12,154,182 k) and amounted to PLN 106,096,110 k (EUR 22,630,892 k) – excluding natural gas. It was the 2^nd year with the negative balance deterioration, after 2 years of its improvement. Regarding the balance magnitude, in 2022 the imports tonnage increased with the exports tonnage dropping slightly.

The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2022, were: hard coal and coal derivatives (20.78% of the total export value), crude oil and petroleum products (15.35%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (12.29%), precious metals (9.19%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (7.12%), iron and ferroalloys (7.00%), aluminum (5.46%), silver (3.62%) and insulating materials (2.18%; 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 (54.05% of the total import value), hard coal and coal derivatives (13.19%), aluminum (5.92%), iron and ferroalloys (3.72%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (3.65%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (3.40%), precious metals (1.78%), potassium (1.20%), palladium (1.18%) and zinc (1.18%; Fig. 2).

In terms of the magnitude, the total quantity of the raw materials export slightly decreased in 2022, with the import quantity growing slightly. The export quantity amounted to 31,904 kt and was by 1,594 kt (4.76%) smaller than in the previous year. The total import magnitude was equal 80,230 kt and grew by 8,372 kt (11.65%) in comparison with 2021.

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 2022

Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2022

Tables 2a and 2b shows values of an imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 2a/2b. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of value in 2013-2022 (value in PLN and in EUR).

It can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the export value exceeded the import value and the turnover balance remained positive till 2016. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the 3^rd consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. In the 2017-2018 period the balance got significantly worse and remained negative, the 2019-2021 period brought the significant improvement and the noted balance was significantly positive – the highest since 2013. Only in 2022, the balance got worse – by several times. For 3 remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative for years. Chemical raw materials have been characterized by the declining tendency during almost the whole analyzed period – the tendency was stopped only in 2017 and in 2020-2021. In the last couple of years, for fuels short-term periods of the turnover trends can be observed – the positive in the 2015-2016 period (when the balance remained at the level of about PLN -25,700.00 M – EUR -5,915.49 M), the negative in the 2017-2018 period to the level of about PLN -54,900.00 M (EUR -12,887.05 M), and the positive in the 2019-2020 period – the balance grew to about PLN -33,780.00 M (EUR -7,668.92 M). In the last 2 years, the balance got worse again – to the level of about PLN -104,961.98 M (EUR -22,388.69 M), that means the lowest in the analyzed period. The balance for rock raw materials significantly decreased in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the most positive tendency was recorded in the 2015-2016 period, the 2019-2020 period and in 2022 – the most positive in the whole analyzed period. Therefore, in 2022 it amounted to PLN -61.15 M (EUR -13.88 M).

Table 3 shows the imports-exports quantity balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 3. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of quantity in 2013–2022 (Mt).

The turnover balance within all raw materials groups has been clearly negative in the whole analyzed period. In the case of metallic raw materials, the negative tendency has been occurring in the 2013-2018 period with the significant improvement noted in the last 4 years (to the level of -5.34 Mt). The balance for rocks has been characterized by a quite stable level till 2017. The following 2 years were characterized by the significant negative tendency, whereas the 2020-2022 period brought an improvement to -3.50 Mt. The balance for fuels remained at the stable level in 2014-2016. Then it dropped largely in 2017 and 2018 with this negative tendency stopped in the 2019-2021 period. Last year brought again the advantage of the import magnitude on the export magnitude. For chemical raw materials the balance was slightly positive in 2009 and then was followed by the visible negative tendency in a dozen or so years (with slight yearly changes). In the last 3 years the balance improved to the level of -0.70 Mt. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of the natural gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 17.54 bnm³ in 2021) the balance would drop in 2022 to about -56 Mt. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -66 Mt.

The variation of the imports–exports balance by the value and the quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Figure 3. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN bn – fixed prices as of 2022; EUR bn)

Figure 4. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (Mt)

The value balance increased substantially in 2015 and in the 2019-2020 period, whereas the significant drops were recorded in the 2017-2018 period and in the 2021-2022 period (Fig. 3). The lowest level was attained in 2022 - it amounted to PLN -106.10 bn (EUR -22.63 bn), the highest in 2015 – it was equal PLN -35.45 bn (EUR -6.38 bn in 2016). The quantity balance was characterized by the negative tendency in the 2014-2018 period to the lowest level of -50.61 Mt, by the positive tendency in the 2019-2021 period – to the level of -38.36 Mt and by the significant drop in 2022 – to the level of -48.33 Mt (Fig. 4). Taking into account the magnitude of the gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 17.54 bnm³ – about 17.54 Mt) the balance would drop in 2022 to about -66 Mt.

The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2021-2022 are presented in Figure 5 and Figure 6. The highest increases in the contribution to the turnover value with respect to the previous year took place in fuels export (by 11.4%) and fuels import (by 8.90%). The highest decreases were observed within metals export (by 13.4%) and metals import (by 8.2%).

In 2022, fuels were still the most important group regarding Polish imports (mainly due to the crude oil and petroleum products). Their contribution was equal 69.6% and increased in comparison with 2021 – by 8.9% (with lack of data on natural gas import). In export, the contribution of this group also grew – by 11.4% and was equal 42.5%. this group replaced metals regarding the export value. Metals contribution in the export value dropped by 13.4% and was equal 42.2%. Traditionally, metals were the second-best regarding the import value – their contribution was equal 21.5% and decreased by 8.2% in comparison with 2021.

Both mentioned above groups (fuels and metals) constituted 91.1% of the total import value and 84.7% of the total export value in 2022.

The lowest contribution in the trade turnover, similarly to the previous years, was recorded for rocks. It was equal 2.2% regarding the import value and 11.1% for the export value (regarding the export value the contribution grew by 2.6%). Together with chemicals, they constituted for 8.9% and 15.3% of the import and export values in 2022, respectively.

Figure 5. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2021–2022

Figure 6. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2021–2022

Regarding the quantity of raw materials export, it increased for all of raw materials groups in 2022 – by 0.48 Mt for metals, by 0.46 Mt for fuels, by 0.37 Mt for chemicals and by 0.27 Mt for rocks (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. The magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2021–2022 (Mt)

In terms of import magnitude, the only growth was recorded for fuels – by 10.54 Mt. Three other groups were characterized by the import decreases – for rocks by 1.22 Mt, for chemicals by 0.50 Mt, and for metals by 0.44 Mt (Fig. 8).

Figure 8. The magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2021–2022 (Mt)

Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4a and 4b) and quantities (Table 5) in 2021–2022.

Table 4a/4b. The comparison between export/import value in 2021–2022 (value in PLN M and in EUR M)

The total import value in 2022 increased by PLN 92,430.68 M (71.92%) and export value grew by PLN 34,229.82 M (42.46%) in comparison with 2021. In terms of EUR, the import value increased by EUR 19,090.70 M (by 67.89%) and the export value by EUR 6,936.52 M (39.31%).

Regarding imports, the value grew within all of raw materials groups: fuels – by 97.00% (PLN 75,705.61 M); chemicals – by 82.35% (PLN 6,674.21 M); metals – by 24.23% (PLN 9,259.22 M); rocks – by 19.08% (PLN 791.63 M). In terms of EUR, the import values increased for mentioned above groups by: fuels – 92.25% (EUR 15,748.97 M); chemicals – 77.75% (EUR 1,378.92 M); metals – 21.67% (EUR 1,813.78 M); rocks – 16.40% (EUR 149.03 M).

The export value also rose within 4 raw materials groups - by 94.53% (PLN 23,709.87 M) for fuels, by 85.61% (PLN 5,856.30 M) for chemicals, by 25.14% (PLN 980.42 M) for rocks, and by 8.22% (PLN 3,683.23 M) for metals. In terms of EUR, the export values increased for mentioned above groups by: fuels – 90.15% (EUR 4,945.61 M); chemicals – 81.86% (EUR 1,224.47 M); rocks – 22.21% (EUR 189.67 M); metals – 5.88% (EUR 576.78 M).

Table 5. The comparison between export/import quantity in 2021–2022 (Mt)

The total import magnitude in 2022 increased by 11.65% (8.37 Mt) and the export magnitude dropped by 4.78% (1.60 Mt) in comparison with 2021. The import quantity decreased for 3 raw materials groups: for rocks by 12.25% (1.22 Mt); for chemicals by 8.76% (0.50 Mt); for metals by 4.50% (0.44 Mt). The import magnitude rose for fuels by 22.72% (10.54 Mt).

The export quantity decreased for all raw materials groups – in metals by 10.71% (0.48 Mt), in chemicals by 7.58% (0.37 Mt), in rocks by 4.90% (0.27 Mt), whereas in fuels by 2.47% (0.46 Mt; Table 5).

The quantitative and valuable relations of exports and imports within particular mineral raw materials groups were as follows:

• Fuels – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2022 bigger than export despite not including the data covering natural gas import. Therefore, the quantity balance was negative and amounted to -38,781 kt. It got worse by 11,000 kt (39.60%) in comparison with 2021. The value balance remained definitely negative and amounted to PLN -104,961,980 k. The balance got significantly worse for the 2^nd consecutive year – this time by PLN 51,995,741 k, that is twofold (in 2021 it decreased by PLN 19,186,906 k, that is by 56.80%). Taking into account the natural gas import, the total import value would be much higher and therefore the balance much more negative. In terms of EUR, the value balance was equal EUR -22,388,692 k and was more negative in comparison with the previous year by EUR 10,803,367 k (93.25%).
• Metals – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2022 bigger than export but such difference was smaller than in the previous year and therefore the balance slightly more negative. It amounted to -5,343 kt and got worse by 44 kt (0.83%) in comparison with 2021. Despite the negative proportion between the import and the export volume, but thanks to the import of more expensive raw materials together with the export of the cheaper ones, till 2016 the value balance was still positive. In the 2 following years the balance recorded the negative value – in 2017 it got worse in comparison with the previous year by PLN 1,801,291 k and amounted to PLN -1,342 203 k, whereas in 2018 it remained at the similar level and was equal PLN -1,252,588 k (the improvement by PLN 89,615 k that is by 6.68%). In 2019, there was the significant improvement noted and the balance was back positive – it amounted to PLN 2,061,470 k and got better by PLN 3,314,058 k in comparison with 2018 (the 1.5 fold growth). In 2020, the positive value balance amounted to the level of the year 2014 – it amounted to PLN 4,783,986 k and it means that the balance improved in comparison with 2019 by PLN 2,722,516 k – the 2.3 fold growth; the significant balance improvement was also recorded in 2021 – by PLN 1,801,256 k (37.65%) to the level of PLN 6,585,251 k, that is the highest one since 2012. In 2022, the value balance dropped to PLN 1,009,261 k – by PLN 5,575,990 k (84.67%). In terms of EUR, the value balance in 2022 was equal EUR 203,896 k and was less positive in comparison with the previous year by EUR 1,236,996 k (85.85%).
• Chemicals – similarly to the two groups mentioned above the import amount exceeded the export magnitude in 2022. Therefore, the quantity balance remained negative (-697 kt) but improved by 129 kt (15.62%). The import value increased by PLN 6,674,214 k (82.35%), whereas the export value increased by PLN 5,856,298 k (85.61%). The value balance remained negative and was more negative in comparison with 2021 by PLN 817,916 k (64.69%) – it amounted to PLN 2,082,242 k; in terms of EUR, the value balance in 2022 was equal EUR -432,217 k and was more negative in comparison with the previous year by EUR 154,452 k (55.61%).
• Rocks – the value balance remained negative and amounted to PLN 61,148 k. It improved in comparison with 2021 by PLN 188,788 k due to the bigger growth of the export value (by PLN 980,419 k – that is by 25.14%) than the import value (by PLN 791,631 k – that is by 19.08%); in terms of EUR, the value balance in 2022 was equal EUR -13,878 k and was less negative in comparison with the previous year by EUR 40,635 k (74.54%).

The main partners of the raw materials exports and imports

Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There were 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).

Table 6. Main directions of mineral raw materials exports and imports in Poland in 2022

Regarding the exports directions, the highest value in 2022 – similarly to the previous years – was reached by the raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 27,368,075 k (EUR 5,860,680 k), which constituted 23.83% of the total Polish raw materials exports value. The 2^nd and 3^rd most important countries with the significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were: Czech Republic (PLN 12,359,894 k – 10.76%; EUR 2,646,313 k) and Ukraine (PLN 11,225,029 k – 9.77%; EUR 2,387,114 k; Fig. 9). The total export value to these 3 countries amounted to PLN 50,952,998 k (44.37% of the total export value; EUR 10,894,107 k). Positions of the 1^st and the 2^nd country on the list have not changed in comparison with 2021, whereas Ukraine took the place occupied in 2021 by Italy – in 2021 Ukraine was on the 9^th place. In comparison with 2021, the value of the raw materials exported to Germany increased by PLN 6,110,507 k – 28.75% (by EUR 1,208,316 k – 25.97%), in the case of Czech Republic it grew by PLN 3,711,137 k – 42.91% (by EUR 753,671 k – 39.82%). Regarding Ukraine, the growth was more than fourfold and equal PLN 8,584,590 k (EUR 1,810,727 k).

Figure 9. The Polish raw materials export in 2022, by countries

The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2022 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 49,392,420 k (EUR 10,619,598 k), which constituted 22.36% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. The 2^nd place was occupied by Saudi Arabia (PLN 25,703,687 k – 11.63%; EUR 5,486,735 k) and 3^rd place by Germany (PLN 21,108,960 k – 9.55%; EUR 4,516,958 k; Fig. 10). The dominating position of Russia has not changed in comparison with 2021, whereas Saudi Arabia and Germany changed their places. The total import value from these 3 countries amounted to PLN 96,205,067 k (43.54% of the total import value; EUR 20,623,291 k). It should be noted that taking into account the data covering natural gas import to Poland, the ratios would change. In comparison with 2021, the value of the raw materials imported from Russia slightly increased – by PLN 4,297,207 k – 9.53% (by EUR 754,770 k), in the case of Saudi Arabia there was almost threefold growth recorded by PLN 16,976,905 k (by EUR 3,579,231 k), whereas for Germany it grew by PLN 7,791,038 k – by 58.50% (by EUR 1,600,828 k).

Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2022, by countries

Regarding the magnitude of the turnover directions, the most important countries in raw materials export were: Czech Republic, Germany and Ukraine. The quantity of raw materials sold to these countries amounted to 7.08 Mt, 6.24 Mt and 3.03 Mt, respectively. It constituted 22.20%, 19.54% and 9.50% of the total export volume in 2022. The export magnitude to these 3 countries amounted to 51.25% (16.35 Mt) of the total raw materials export. Positions of Czech Republic and Germany have not changed in comparison with 2021, whereas Ukraine took the place occupied by Austria. Regarding Czech Republic, the export volume dropped by 0.28 Mt (3.80%) compared with 2021, for Germany there was a drop by 0.39 Mt (5.88%), whereas for Ukraine it was growth recorded – by 0.97 Mt (36.49%).

In terms of import magnitude, the first 3 items on the list were occupied in 2022 by: Russia, Saudi Arabia and Germany. The majority of raw materials was imported from Russia – 18.96 Mt which constituted 23.63% of the total import volume; from Saudi Arabia and Germany there were 7.47 Mt (9.32%) and 6.47 Mt (8.06%) imported, respectively. The import magnitude from these 3 countries constituted 41.01% (32.90 Mt) of the total raw materials import in 2022. The 1^st place occupied by Russia did not changed in comparison with 2021, Saudi Arabia moved from 4^th to 2^nd position, whereas Germany dropped from 2^nd to 3^rd. In the case of Russia, the import magnitude dropped significantly – by 10.24 Mt (35.07%), for Saudi Arabia the growth was equal 2.96 Mt (65.63%), whereas for Germany the import volume increased by 0.68 Mt (11.74%).

There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.

Table 7. The import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products in 2022

The integrated Tariff of the European Union - TARIC

In relation to the previous editions of “The balance…” a list of presented commodities is updated annually according to the Polish Custom Service tabulations. These tabulations are based on the integrated Tariff of the European Union – TARIC. The legal base for TARIC is the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 dated 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (Official Journal L 256, 07/09/1987). The Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1006/2011 dated 27 September, 2011, amending Annex I to the Regulation No 2658/87 (Official Journal L 282, 28/10/2011).

The TARIC is based on the Combined Nomenclature (CN) which is set up to meet the requirements both of the Common Custom Tariff (CCT) and of the EU’s external trade statistics. The CN is also used in intra-EU trade statistics. The CN was established by the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Every year, Annex I to the basic CN Regulation (No 2658/87) is updated and published as a stand-alone Regulation in the EU’s Official Journal (L series). The CN contains about 10,000 items and works on an 8-digit code system – it is the further development (with the special EU-specific subdivisions) of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS). On a 6-digit level the CN is analogous to the HS. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized System prepared under auspices of the World Customs Organization in Brussels of 14 June 1983 (Official Journal No 11, pos. 62, 1997).

The TARIC is the multilingual database integrating all measures relating to the EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. The TARIC is updated and maintained daily in almost every of the EU languages. The TARIC data are transmitted daily via an electronic network to the Member States, which guarantee immediate and correct information for the national administrations of the Member States, who use this data mainly to feed their national systems for customs clearance, with a goal of maximizing automatic customs clearance.

The TARIC is not legally binding, nevertheless its codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics according to Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 (Official Journal of 3/02/2000).

In Poland, the TARIC database is maintained by the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Integrated Customs Tariff Information System – ISZTAR 3. It provides detailed information concerning commodity turnover to the Customs Administration and to all interested parties concerned by that issue. Both, the EU data coming from the TARIC system and the Polish data (VAT and excise taxes), as well as some national non-tariff measures not integrated in the TARIC database, are presented in the browser. Similarly to the TARIC, the ISZTAR is not legally binding, nevertheless its codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics.

The tendencies of the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland

The accession to the European Union caused substantial changes in the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland – in 2004 and following years. The significant growths of exports and imports value were recorded in 2006 with the magnitude remaining at the similar level as in 2004-2005. Next two years (2007-2008) brought the increase in the import value and volume; the export magnitude decreased while the export value after the drop in 2007 slightly increased in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic crises in 2009 there were drops recorded both for imports and exports – regarding the value and the amount. In 2010 the tendency reversed and growths were noted. In the next two years (2011-2012) such tendency remained regarding the value of the import and the export, whereas the import magnitude grew in 2011, decreased in 2012, and the export volume dropped in 2011 and then increased in 2012. In 2013 the value decreased both for the import and export with the import magnitude drop and the export magnitude increase. In 2014-2015 the value of raw materials turnover dropped. The turnover amount in 2014 decreased for export and increased for import and in 2015 it grew for both turnover aspects. In 2016 the import and export value got better, whereas the import volume grew and the export magnitude decreased. The significant import and the slight export growth were noted in 2017 with the import magnitude growth and the slight export magnitude decline. The similar changes took place in 2018. In 2019, the import decreased, both for the value and for the magnitude, whereas the export value increased slightly and the export volume dropped significantly. In 2020, both the export and the import of the mineral raw materials decreased – not only in terms of value but also magnitude. In 2021, the import tonnage slightly increased, whereas the export tonnage grew significantly; regarding turnover values, there were huge increases recorded – both in imports and in exports of the mineral raw materials.

The summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2021 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and the value for the total of imports-exports as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1a/1b. The export/import values are presented both in PLN and EUR.

Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials exports and imports in 2021 (value in PLN and in EUR)

Data on the mineral raw materials turnover do not cover natural gas. The data on natural gas export and import are not available since 2006 due to the confidentiality of such 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 is minor (in 2019 amounted to 0.67 bnm³ – about 670 Mt; in 2020 to about 1.32 bnm³ – about 1,323 Mt) and the lack of data does not significantly affect the total balance of raw materials trade. The lack of data on the natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and the value of raw materials imported to Poland. Data officially presented by the Central Statistical Office of Poland cover only the amount 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 bnm³ in 2009-2010 to about 14.95 bnm³ in 2018, 16.75 bnm³ in 2019 and 16.51 bnm³ in 2020 (information covering 2021 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 exports and imports of the mineral raw materials in 2021 – the comparison with the previous years

The total raw materials export value increased in 2021 by PLN 27,686,164 k – it means by 52.30% (by EUR 5,689,424 k – it means by 47.59%) in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 80,618,958 k (EUR 17,645,116 k). The imports value amounted to PLN 128,514,208 k (EUR 28,121,826 k), increasing by PLN 44,708,358 k – it means by 53.35% (by EUR 9,134,681 k – it means by 48.11%). The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative and got worse in comparison with 2020 – by PLN 17,022,194 k (EUR 3,445,257 k) and amounted to PLN 47,895,250 k (EUR 10,476,710 k) – excluding natural gas. It was the 1^st year with the negative balance deterioration, after 2 years of its improvement. Regarding the balance magnitude, in 2021 the imports tonnage slightly increased with the exports tonnage grew significantly.

The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2021, were: hard coal and coal derivatives (17.20% of the total export value), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (16.57%), precious metals (14.07%), crude oil and petroleum products (12.43%), iron and ferroalloys (8.69%), aluminum (5.87%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (5.49%), silver (4.97%) and insulating materials (2.11%; 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 (53.00% of the total import value), aluminum (7.28%), hard coal and coal derivatives (6.34%), iron and ferroalloys (5.47%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (5.12%), precious metals (2.89%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (2.79%), zinc (1.37%) and potassium (1.20%; Fig. 2).

In terms of the magnitude, the total quantity of the raw materials export significantly increased in 2021, with the import quantity growing slightly. The export quantity amounted to 33,498 kt and was by 4,026 kt (13.66%) bigger than in the previous year. The total import magnitude was equal 71,858 kt and grew by 602 kt (0.84%) in comparison with 2020.

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 2021

Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2021

Tables 2a and 2b shows values of an imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 2a/2b. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of value in 2012-2021 (value in PLN and in EUR).

It can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the export value exceeded the import value and the turnover balance remained positive till 2016. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the 4^th consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. In the 2017-2018 period the balance got significantly worse and remained negative, the 2019-2021 period brought the significant improvement and the noted balance was significantly positive – the highest since 2012 amounted to PLN 6,585.25 M (EUR 1,440.89 M). For three remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative in the analyzed period. Chemical raw materials have been characterized by the declining tendency during almost the whole analyzed period – the tendency was stopped only in 2017 and in the last 2 years when the balance was equal PLN -1,264.33 M (EUR -277.77 M) (in 2021). In the last couple of years, for fuels short-term periods of the turnover trends can be observed – the positive in the 2015-2016 period (when the balance remained at the level of about PLN -25,700.00 M – EUR -5,915.49 M), the negative in the 2017-2018 period to the level of about PLN -54,900.00 M (EUR -12,887.05 M), and the positive in the 2019-2020 period – the balance grew to about PLN -33,780.00 M (EUR -7,668.92 M). In 2021, the balance got worse again – to the level of about PLN -52,966 M (EUR -11,585.32 M). The balance for rock raw materials significantly decreased in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the most positive tendency was recorded in 2013 period, the 2015-2016 period and in the last two years. Therefore, in 2020 the balance was the least negative in the analyzed period – amounted to PLN -159.30 M (EUR -35.52 M). In 2021, the balance got worse again – to the level of PLN -249.94 M (EUR -54.51 M).

Table 3 shows the imports-exports quantity balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 3. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of quantity in 2012–2021 (Mt).

The turnover balance within fuels, metals and rocks has been clearly negative in the whole analyzed period. In the case of metallic raw materials, the negative tendency has been occurring in the 2013-2018 period with the significant improvement noted in the last 3 years (to the level of -5.30 Mt). The balance for rocks – after a significant improvement in 2013 – have been characterized by a quite stable level till 2017. The following 2 years were characterized by the significant negative tendency, whereas the 2020-2021 period brought a slight improvement to -4.45 Mt. The balance for fuels improved visibly in 2013, then remained at the stable level in 2014-2016. Then it dropped largely in 2017 and 2018 with this negative tendency stopped in the last 3 years – in 2021 the balance was equal -27.78 Mt. For chemical raw materials the balance was slightly positive in 2009 and then was followed by the visible negative tendency in a dozen or so years (with slight yearly changes). In the last 2 years the balance improved to the level of -0.83 Mt. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of the natural gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 16.51 bnm³ in 2020) the balance would drop in 2021 to about -44.29 Mt. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -54.87 Mt.

The variation of the imports–exports balance by the value and the quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Figure 3. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN bn – fixed prices as of 2021; EUR bn)

Figure 4. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (Mt)

The value balance decreased substantially in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the significant growths were recorded in 2015 and in the 2019-2020 period (Fig. 3). The lowest level was attained in 2018 - it amounted to PLN -59.49 bn (EUR -13.66 bn), the highest in 2015 – it was equal PLN -29.32 bn (EUR -6.38 bn in 2016). The quantity balance was characterized by three trends in the analyzed period – the significant growth in 2013 to the level of -23.31 Mt, the negative tendency in the 2014-2018 period to the lowest level of -50.61 Mt, the positive trend in the 2019-2021 period to the level of -38.36 Mt (Fig. 4). Taking into account the magnitude of the gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 16.51 bnm³ – about 16.51 Mt) the balance would drop in 2021 to about -54.87 Mt.

The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2020-2021 are presented in Figure 5 and Figure 6. The highest increases in the contribution to the turnover value with respect to the previous year took place in metals export (by 1.60%) and metals import (by 1.30%). The highest decreases were observed within chemicals import (by 1.50%) and rocks export (by 1.40%).

In 2021, similarly to the previous years, fuels were still the most important group regarding Polish imports (mainly due to the crude oil and petroleum products). Their contribution was equal 60.7% and slightly increased in comparison with 2020 – by 1.0% (with lack of data on natural gas import). In export, the contribution of this group also grew – by 0.4% and was equal 31.1%. For the 3^rd consecutive year, fuels were the second-best group regarding the export value. The first group were again metals (mainly due to the copper) with the contribution equal 55.6% (the growth by 1.6%) – for the 2^nd consecutive year their value constituted for more than 50% of the total value of raw materials exported from Poland. Traditionally, metals were the second-best regarding the import value – their contribution was equal 29.7% and increased by 1.3% in comparison with 2020.

Both mentioned above groups (fuels and metals) constituted 90.4% of the total import value and 86.7% of the total export value in 2021. The lowest contribution in the trade turnover, similarly to the previous years, was recorded for rocks. It was equal 3.2% regarding the import value and 4.8% for the export value. Together with chemicals, they constituted for 9.5% and 13.3% of the import and export values in 2021, respectively. It should be noted that for both of these groups, the contributions both in the imports and exports values, dropped.

Figure 5. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2020–2021

Figure 6. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2020–2021

Regarding the quantity of raw materials export, it increased for all of raw materials groups in 2021 – by 2.26 Mt for fuels, by 0.62 Mt both for metals and for rocks and by 0.52 Mt for chemicals (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. The magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2020–2021 (Mt)

In terms of import magnitude, the only growth was recorded for metals – by 0.47 Mt. Three other groups were characterized by the import decreases – for rocks by 0.87 Mt, for chemicals by 0.46 Mt, and for fuels by 0.28 Mt (Fig. 8).

Figure 8. The magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2020–2021 (Mt)

Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4a and 4b) and quantities (Table 5) in 2020–2021.

Table 4a/4b. The comparison between export/import value in 2020–2021 (value in PLN M and in EUR M)

The total import value in 2021 increased by PLN 44,708.36 M (53.35%) and export value grew by PLN 27,686.17 M (52.30%) in comparison with 2020. In terms of EUR, the import value increased by EUR 9,134.68 M (by 48.11%) and the export value by EUR 5,689.43 M (47.59%).

Regarding imports, the value grew within all of raw materials groups: metals – by 60.41% (PLN 14,390.28 M); fuels – by 56.05% (PLN 28,033.52 M); chemicals – by 24.21% (PLN 1,579.52 M); rocks – by 20.47% (PLN 705.05 M). In terms of EUR, the import values increased for mentioned above groups by: metals – 55.39% (EUR 2,983.11 M); fuels – 50.44% (EUR 5,723.79 M); chemicals – 20.06% (EUR 296.28 M); rocks – 16.93% (EUR 131.51 M).

The export value also rose within 4 raw materials groups - by 56.60% (PLN 16,191.54 M) for metals, by 54.49% (PLN 8,846.61 M) for fuels, by 42.31% (PLN 2,033.60 M) for chemicals, and by 18.70% (PLN 614.41 M) for rocks (Table 4). In terms of EUR, the export values increased for mentioned above groups by: metals – 52.15% (EUR 3,362.02 M); fuels – 49.13% (EUR 1,807.37 M); chemicals – 37.45% (EUR 407.51 M); rocks – 15.17% (EUR 112.51 M).

Table 5. The comparison between export/import quantity in 2020–2021 (Mt)

The total import magnitude in 2021 increased by 0.84% (0.60 Mt) and the export magnitude grew by 13.67% (4.03 Mt) in comparison with 2020. The import quantity decreased for 2 raw materials groups: for chemicals by 7.46% (0.46 Mt); for fuels by 0.60% (0.28 Mt). The import magnitude rose for rocks by 9.57% (0.87 Mt), whereas for metals by 5.05% (0.47 Mt).

The export quantity increased for all raw materials groups – in metals by 16.06% (0.62 Mt), in fuels by 13.81% (2.26 Mt), in rocks by 12.68% (0.62 Mt), whereas in chemicals by 11.93% (0.52 Mt; Table 5).

The quantitative and valuable relations of exports and imports within particular mineral raw materials groups were as follows:

• Fuels – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2021 bigger than export despite not including the data covering natural gas import. Therefore, the quantity balance was negative and amounted to -27,781 kt. It got better by 2,536 kt (8.36%) in comparison with 2020. The value balance remained definitely negative and amounted to PLN -52,966,239 k. The balance got significantly worse after 2 years of its improvement – by PLN 19,186,906 k, that is by 56.80% (in 2020 it improved by PLN 17,664,345 k, that is by 34.34%). Taking into account the natural gas import, the total import value would be much higher and therefore the balance much more negative; in terms of EUR, the value balance was equal EUR -11,585,325 k and was more negative in comparison with the previous year by EUR 3,916,407 k (51.07%).
• Metals – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2021 bigger than export and such difference was for the 4^th consecutive year slightly smaller than in the previous year and therefore the balance was more gainful. It amounted to -5.30 Mt and improved by 0.15 Mt (2.75%) in comparison with 2020. Despite the negative proportion between the import and the export volume, but thanks to the positive economic situation (the import of more expensive raw materials together with the export of the cheaper ones), till 2016 the value balance was still positive. In the 2 following years the balance recorded the negative value – in 2017 it got worse in comparison with the previous year by PLN 1,801,291 k and amounted to PLN -1,342,203 k, whereas in 2018 it remained at the similar level and was equal PLN -1,252,588 k (the improvement by PLN 89,615 k that is by 6.68%). In 2019, there was the significant improvement noted and the balance was back positive – it amounted to PLN 2,061,470 k and got better by PLN 3,314,058 k in comparison with 2018 (the 1.5 fold growth). In 2020, the positive value balance amounted to the level of the year 2014 – it amounted to PLN 4,783,986 k and it means that the balance improved in comparison with 2019 by PLN 2,722,516 k – the 2.3 fold growth; the significant balance improvement was also recorded in 2021 – by PLN 1,801,256 k (37.65%) to the level of PLN 6,585,251 k, that is the highest one since 2012. In terms of EUR, the value balance in 2021 was equal EUR -1,440,892 k and was more positive in comparison with the previous year by EUR 378,915 k (35.68%).
• Chemicals – similarly to the two groups mentioned above the import amount exceeded the export magnitude in 2021. Therefore, the quantity balance remained negative (-826 kt) but improved by 989 kt (54.49%). The import value increased by PLN 1,579,517 k (24.21%), whereas the export value increased by PLN 2,033,598 k (42.31%). The value balance remained negative but was more gainful in comparison with 2020 by PLN 454,081 k (26.42%) – it amounted to PLN 1,264,326 k; in terms of EUR, the value balance in 2021 was equal EUR -277,765 k and was more positive in comparison with the previous year by EUR 111,226 k (28.59%).
• Rocks – the value balance remained negative and amounted to PLN 249,936 k. It got worse in comparison with 2020 by PLN 90,634 k due to the bigger growth of the import value (by PLN 705,045 k – that is by 20.47%) than the export value (by PLN 614,411 k – that is by 18.70%); in terms of EUR, the value balance in 2021 was equal EUR -54,513 k and was more negative in comparison with the previous year by EUR 18,992 k (53.47%).

The main partners of the raw materials exports and imports

Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There were 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).

Table 6. Main directions of mineral raw materials exports and imports in Poland in 2021

Regarding the exports directions, the highest value in 2021 – similarly to the previous years – was reached by the raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 21,257,568 k (EUR 4,652,364 k), which constituted 26.37% of the total Polish raw materials exports value. The 2^nd and 3^rd most important countries with the significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were: Czech Republic (PLN 8,648,757 k – 10.73%; EUR 1,892,642 k) and Italy (PLN 4,437,568 k – 5.50%; EUR 971,125 k; Fig. 9). The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 34,343,893 k (42.60% of the total export value) (EUR 7,516,130 k). Position of the two first countries on the list have not changed in comparison with 2020, whereas Italy took the place occupied in 2020 by China – in 2020 Italy was on the 5^th place. In comparison with 2020, the value of the raw materials exported to Germany increased by PLN 7,740,774 k – 57.27% (by EUR 1,605,191 k – 52.68%), in the case of Czech Republic it grew by PLN 2,622,090 k – 43.51% (by EUR 528,984 k – 38.79%). Regarding Italy, the growth was equal PLN 2,046,576 k – 85.60% (EUR 431,769 k – 80.05%).

Figure 9. The Polish raw materials export in 2021, by countries

The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2021 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 45,095,213 k (EUR 9,864,828 k), which constituted 35.09% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. The 2^nd place was occupied by Germany (PLN 13,317,922 k – 10.36%; EUR 2,916,130 k) and 3^rd place by Saudi Arabia (PLN 8,726,782 k – 6.79%; EUR 1,907,504 k; Fig. 10). These three items on the list of the import directions have not changed in comparison with 2020. The total import value from these 3 countries amounted to PLN 67,139,918 k (52.24% of the total import value) (EUR 14,688,462 k). It should be noted that taking into account the data covering natural gas import to Poland, the ratios would change. In comparison with 2020, the value of the raw materials imported from Russia increased significantly – by PLN 13,513,075 k – 42.79% (by EUR 2,691,205 k), in the case of Germany there was the growth recorded by PLN 4,787,546 k – 56.12% (by EUR 987,744 k), whereas for Saudi Arabia it grew by PLN 4,187,184 k – almost two-fold that is by 92.24% (by EUR 879,169 k).

Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2021, by countries

Regarding the magnitude of the turnover directions, the most important countries in raw materials export were: Germany, Czech Republic and Austria (the same as in 2020). The quantity of raw materials sold to these countries amounted to 7.36 Mt, 6.63 Mt and 2.22 Mt, respectively. It constituted 21.98%, 19.80% and 6.63% of the total export volume in 2021. The export magnitude to these three countries amounted to 48.41% (16.22 Mt) of the total raw materials export.

In terms of import magnitude, the first three items on the list were occupied in 2021 by: Russia, Ukraine and Germany (the same as in 2020). The majority of raw materials was imported from Russia – 29.20 Mt which constituted 40.63% of the total import volume; from Ukraine and Germany there were 5.79 Mt (8.06%) imported (the same amount from each of these countries). The import magnitude from these three countries constituted 56.74% (40.77 Mt) of the total raw materials import in 2021.

There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.

Table 7. The import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products in 2021

The integrated Tariff of the European Union - TARIC

In relation to the previous editions of “The balance…” the list of presented commodities is upgraded according to the Polish Custom Service tabulations. These tabulations are based on the integrated Tariff of the European Union – TARIC. The legal base of the TARIC is Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (Official Journal L 256, 07/09/1987). The Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1006/2011 of 27 September 2011 changing the Annex I to the Regulation No 2658/87 (Official Journal L 282, 28/10/2011).

The TARIC is based on the Combined Nomenclature (CN) which is set up to meet the requirements both of the Common Custom Tariff (CCT) and of the EU’s external trade statistics. The CN is also used in intra-EU trade statistics. The CN was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Every year Annex I to the basic CN Regulation (No 2658/87) is updated and published as a stand-alone Regulation in the EU’s Official Journal (L series). The CN contains about 10,000 items and is the 8-digit code system – it is a further development (with special EU-specific subdivisions) of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS). On the 6-digit level the CN is analogous to the HS. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized System prepared under the auspices of World Customs Organization in Brussels of 14 June 1983 (Official Journal No 11, pos. 62, 1997).

The TARIC is a multilingual database integrating all measures relating to EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. The TARIC is updated and maintained daily in almost every of the EU languages. The TARIC data are transmitted daily via an electronic network to the Member States which guarantee immediate and correct information for the national administrations of the Member States, who use this data mainly to feed their national systems for customs clearance, with the goal of maximizing automatic customs clearance.

The TARIC is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics according to the Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 (Official Journal of 3/02/2000).

In Poland, the TARIC database is carried out by the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Integrated Customs Tariff Information System – ISZTAR 3. It provides detailed information concerning the commodity turnover to the Customs Administration and to all interested in that issue. Both the EU data coming from the TARIC system and the Polish data (VAT and excise taxes), as well as some national non-tariff measures not integrated in the TARIC database, are presented in the browser. Similarly to the TARIC, the ISZTAR is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics.

The tendencies of the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland

The accession to the European Union caused substantial changes in the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland – in 2004 and in the following years. The significant growths of exports and imports value were recorded in 2006 with the magnitude remaining at the similar level as in 2004-2005. Next two years (2007-2008) brought the increase in the import value and volume; the export magnitude decreased while the export value after the drop in 2007 slightly increased in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic crises in 2009 there were drops recorded both for imports and exports – regarding the value and the amount. In 2010 the tendency reversed and growths were noted. In the next two years (2011-2012) such tendency remained regarding the value of the import and the export, whereas the import magnitude grew in 2011, decreased in 2012, and the export volume dropped in 2011 and then increased in 2012. In 2013 the value decreased both for the import and export with the import magnitude drop and the export magnitude increase. In 2014-2015 the value of raw materials turnover dropped. The turnover amount in 2014 decreased for export and increased for import and in 2015 it grew for both turnover aspects. In 2016 the import and export value got better, whereas the import volume grew and the export magnitude decreased. The significant import and the slight export growth were noted in 2017 with the import magnitude growth and the slight export magnitude decline. The similar changes took place in 2018. In 2019, the import decreased, both for the value and for the magnitude, whereas the export value increased slightly and the export volume dropped significantly. In 2020, both the export and the import of the mineral raw materials decreased – not only in terms of value but also magnitude.

The summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2020 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and the value for the total of imports-exports as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1a/1b. The export/import values are presented both in PLN and EURO.

Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials exports and imports in 2020 (value in PLN and in EURO)

The data on the mineral raw materials turnover do not cover natural gas. The 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. The natural gas export from Poland is minor (in 2019 amounted to 0.67 billion m³ – about 670 million tonnes) and the lack of data does not significantly affect the total balance of the raw materials turnover. The lack of data on the natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and the value of raw materials brought to 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 2009-2010 to about 14.95 billion m³ in 2018 and 16.75 billion m³ in 2019 (information covering 2020 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 exports and imports of the mineral raw materials in 2020 – the comparison with the previous years

The total raw materials export value decreased by PLN 3,391,097 thousand (EURO 1,150,241 thousand) (6.02%) in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 52,932,794 thousand (EURO 11,955,692 thousand) in 2020. The imports value amounted to PLN 83,805,850 thousand (EURO 18,987,145 thousand), decreasing by PLN 24,251,646 thousand (EURO 6,156,476 thousand) (22.44%). The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative and was more gainful than in 2019 – by PLN 20,860,548 thousand (EURO 5,006,235 thousand) and amounted to PLN 30,873,056 thousand (EURO 7,031,453 thousand) – excluding natural gas. It was the second consecutive year with the negative balance drop.

The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2020, were: the raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (16.54% of the total export value), hard coal and coal derivatives (16.47%), precious metals (12.85%), crude oil and petroleum products (12.22%), iron and ferroalloys (6.96%), silver (6.33%), aluminum (5.30%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (5.11%) and insulating materials (2.67%; 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 (51.61% of the total import value), aluminum (7.57%), hard coal and coal derivatives (6.69%), iron and ferroalloys (5.17%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (4.92%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (2.91%), precious metals (2.68%), potassium (1.50%) and zinc (1.42%; Fig. 2).

In terms of the magnitude, the total quantity of the raw materials export slightly decreased in 2020, with the import quantity dropping significantly. The export quantity amounted to 29,472 thousand tonnes and was by 174 thousand tonnes (0.59%) lower than in the previous year. The total import magnitude was equal 71,256 thousand tonnes and dropped by 7,852 thousand tonnes (9.93%) in comparison with 2019.

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 2020

Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2020

Table 2 shows values of an imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 2. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of value in 2011–2020 (PLN million).

It can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the turnover balance remained positive till 2016. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. In the 2017-2018 period the balance got significantly worse and remains negative, the 2019-2020 period brought the significant improvement and the noted balance was positive – amounted to PLN 4,783.99 million. For three remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative in the analyzed period. Chemical raw materials are characterized by the declining tendency which was stopped only in 2017 and 2020 when the balance was equal PLN -1,718.41 million. In the last couple of years, for fuels 2-year periods of the turnover trends can be observed – the positive in the 2015-2016 period (when the balance remained at the level of about PLN -25,700.00 million), the negative in the 2017-2018 period to the level of about PLN -54,900.00 million, and the positive in the 2019-2020 period – the balance grew to about PLN -33,780.00 million. The balance for rock raw materials significantly decreased in 2011 and in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the most positive tendency was recorded in the 2012-2013 period, the 2015-2016 period and in the last two years. Therefore, in 2020 the balance was the least negative in the analyzed period – amounted to PLN -159.30 million.

Table 3 shows the imports-exports quantity balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 3. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of quantity in 2011–2020 (million tonnes).

The turnover balance within fuels, metals and rocks has been clearly negative in the whole analyzed period. In the case of metallic raw materials the negative tendency has been occurring in the 2012-2018 period and with the significant improvement noted in 2019 and in 2020 (to the level of -5.45 million tonnes). The balance for rocks – after a significant drop in 2011 – have been characterized by a quite stable level till 2017. The following two years were characterized by the negative tendency, whereas the 2020 brought a slight improvement to -4.20 million tonnes. The balance for fuels improved in 2012-2013 almost twofold, then remained at the stable level in 2013-2016. Then it dropped largely in 2017 and 2018 with this negative tendency stopped in the last two years – in 2020 the balance was equal -30.32 million tonnes. For chemical raw materials the balance was slightly positive in 2009 and then was followed by the visible negative tendency in a dozen or so years (with slight yearly changes) – in 2020 it amounted to -1.81 million tonnes. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of the natural gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 16.75 billion m³ in 2019) the balance would drop in 2020 to about -47.07 million tonnes. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -58.53 million tonnes.

The variation of the imports–exports balance by the value and the quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Figure 3. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN billion – fixed prices as of 2020)

Figure 4. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (million tonnes)

The value balance decreased substantially in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the significant growth was recorded in 2015 and in the 2019-2020 period (Fig. 3). The lowest level was attained in 2018 - it amounted to PLN -59.49 billion, the highest in 2015 – it was equal PLN -29.32 billion. The quantity balance was characterized by three trends in the analyzed period – the significantly positive in 2012-2013 to the level of -23.31 million tonnes, the negative in the 2014-2018 period to the lowest level of -50.61 million tonnes, the slightly positive in the 2019-2020 period to the level of -41.78 million tonnes (Fig. 4). Taking into account the magnitude of the gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 17 billion m³ – about 17 million tonnes) the balance would drop in 2020 to about -58.78 million tonnes.

The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2019-2020 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 export (by 7.70%) and metals import (by 6.20%). The highest decreases were observed within fuels export (by 8.90%) and fuels import (by 8.60%). Fuels are still the most important group regarding Polish imports (mainly due to the crude oil and petroleum products) and metals are the most important group regarding the export (mainly due to the copper). Regarding chemicals, the contribution of this group increased both in the export and import – by 0.60% and 1.60%, respectively; for rocks, there were also growths recorded – by 0.60% in export and 0.80% in import.

Figure 5. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2019–2020

Figure 6. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2019–2020

Regarding the quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that chemicals and rocks exports increased slightly in 2020 – by 0.04 million tonnes and 0.34 million tonnes, respectively. Fuels export dropped significantly – by 0.42 million tonnes, and metals export decreased by 0.14 million tonnes (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. The magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2019–2020 (million tonnes)

In terms of import magnitude, there were drops within all of raw materials groups in 2020. The biggest was recorded for fuels import – by 5.61 million tonnes, whereas metals import dropped by 1.19 million tonnes. For rocks and chemicals the reported decreases amounted to 0.71 million tonnes and 0.35 million tonnes, respectively (Fig. 8).

Figure 8. The magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2019–2020 (million tonnes)

Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2019–2020.

Table 4. The comparison between export/import value in 2019–2020 (PLN million)

The total import value in 2020 decreased by PLN 24.25 billion (EURO 6.16 billion) (22.44%) and export value dropped by PLN 3.39 billion (EURO 1.15 billion; 6.02%) in comparison with 2019.

Regarding imports, the value dropped within all of raw materials groups: - fuels – by 32.20% (PLN 23.75 billion; EURO 5.81 billion); - chemicals – by 3.30% (PLN 0.22 billion; EURO 0.03 billion); - rocks – by 2.93% (PLN 0.10 billion; EURO 0.05 billion); - metals – by 0.72% (PLN 0.17 billion; EURO 0.20 billion).

The export value rose within three raw materials groups - by 9.79% (PLN 2.55 billion; EURO 0.39 billion) for metals, by 4.56% (PLN 0.14 billion; EURO 0.01 billion) for rocks, and by 0.07% (PLN 0.001 billion; the drop in terms of EURO by EURO 0.03 billion) for chemicals. In the case of fuels it decreased significantly – by 27.27% (PLN 6.09 billion; EURO 1.52 billion) (Table 4).

Table 5. The comparison between export/import quantity in 2019–2020 (million tonnes)

The total import magnitude in 2020 decreased by 9.92% (7.85 million tonnes) and the export magnitude dropped by 0.61% (0.18 million tonnes) in comparison with 2019.

The import quantity decreased within all of raw materials groups: - for metals by 11.33% (1.19 million tonnes); - for fuels by 10.73% (5.61 million tonnes), for rocks by 7.24% (0.71 million tonnes), whereas for chemicals by 5.37% (0.35 million tonnes).

The export quantity increased for rocks – by 7.47% (0.34 million tonnes), and for chemicals – by 0.93% (0.04 million tonnes). For two remaining groups there were drops recorded – the export magnitude decreased by 3.50% (0.14 million tonnes) for metals and by 2.50% (0.42 million tonnes) for fuels (Table 5).

The quantitative and valuable relations of exports and imports within particular mineral raw materials groups were as follows:

• Fuels – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2020 bigger than export despite not including the data covering natural gas import. Therefore, the quantity balance was negative and amounted to -30,317 thousand tonnes. It got better by 5,191 thousand tonnes (14.62%) in comparison with 2019. The value balance remained definitely negative and amounted to PLN -33,779,333 thousand (EURO 7,668,918 thousand). The balance improved for the second consecutive year – by PLN 17,664,345 thousand (EURO 4,299,338 thousand), that is by 34.34% (in 2019 it improved by PLN 3,457,237 thousand, that is by 6.30%). Taking into account the natural gas import, the total import value would be much higher and therefore the balance much more negative.
• Metals – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2020 bigger than export and such difference was for the third consecutive year slightly smaller than in the previous year and therefore the balance was more gainful. It amounted to -5.45 million tonnes and improved by 1.05 million tonnes (16.15%) in comparison with 2019. Despite the negative proportion between the import and the export volume, but thanks to the positive economic situation (the import of more expensive raw materials together with the export of the cheaper ones), till 2016 the value balance was still positive. In the two following years the balance recorded the negative value – in 2017 it got worse in comparison with the previous year by PLN 1,801,291 thousand and amounted to PLN -1,342 203 thousand, whereas in 2018 it remained at the similar level and was equal PLN -1,252,588 thousand (the improvement by PLN 89,615 thousand that is by 6.68%). In 2019, there was the significant improvement noted and the balance was back positive – it amounted to PLN 2,061,470 thousand and got better by PLN 3,314,058 thousand in comparison with 2018 (the 1.5 fold growth). In 2020, the positive value balance amounted to the level of the year 2014 – it amounted to PLN 4,783,986 thousand (EURO 1,061,977 thousand) and it means that the balance improved in comparison with 2019 by PLN 2,722,516 thousand (EURO 583,696 thousand) – the 2.3 fold growth.
• Chemicals – similarly to the two groups mentioned above the import amount exceeded the export magnitude in 2020. Therefore, the quantity balance remained negative (-1,815 thousand tonnes) and decreased by 385 thousand tonnes (17.50%). The import value decreased by PLN 222,974 thousand (EURO 93,596 thousand) (3.30%), whereas the export value increased by PLN 3,366 thousand (drop in terms of EURO by EURO 29,535 thousand) (0.07%). The value balance remained negative but was more gainful in comparison with 2019 by PLN 226,340 thousand (EURO 64,060 thousand) (11.64%) – it amounted to PLN 1,718,407 thousand (EURO 388,991 thousand).
• Rocks – the value balance remained negative and amounted to PLN 159,302 thousand (EURO 35,521 thousand). It improved in comparison with 2019 by PLN 247,347 thousand (EURO 59,140 thousand) due to the growth of the export value (by PLN 143,402 thousand – that is by 4.56%; EURO 10,363 thousand), with the import value drop (by PLN 103,945 thousand – that is by 2.93%; EURO 48,776 thousand).

The main partners of the raw materials exports and imports

Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There were 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).

Table 6. Main directions of mineral raw materials exports and imports in Poland in 2020

Regarding the exports directions, the highest value in 2020 – similarly to the previous years – was reached by the raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 13,516,794 thousand (EURO 3,047,173 thousand), which constituted 25.54% of the total Polish raw materials exports value. Other important countries with the significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were: Czech Republic (PLN 6,026,667 thousand – 11.39%; EURO 1,363,658 thousand) and China (PLN 3,088,529 thousand – 5.83%; EURO 692,717 thousand) (Fig. 9). The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 22,631,991 thousand (42.76% of the total export value) (EURO 5,103,549 thousand). Two first countries on the list have not changed in comparison with 2019, whereas China took the place occupied in 2019 by Netherlands – in 2019 China was on the 5^th place. In comparison with 2019, the value of the raw materials exported to Germany increased by PLN 193,988 thousand (1.46%) (the drop in terms of EURO by EURO 52,003 thousand), whereas in the case of Czech Republic it dropped by PLN 291,260 thousand (4.61%) (EURO 106,409 thousand). Regarding China, the growth was equal PLN 178,342 thousand (6.13%) (EURO 15,594 thousand).

Figure 9. The Polish raw materials export in 2020, by countries

The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2020 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 31,582,138 thousand (EURO 7,173,623 thousand), which constituted 37.68% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. The 2^nd place was occupied by Germany (PLN 8,530,376 thousand – 10.18%; EURO 1,928,386 thousand) and 3^rd place by Saudi Arabia (PLN 4,539,598 thousand – 5.42%; EURO 1,028,335 thousand; Fig. 10). These three items on the list of the import directions have not changed in comparison with 2019. The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 44,652,113 thousand (53.28% of the total import value) (EURO 10,130,344 thousand). It should be noted that taking into account the data covering natural gas import to Poland, the ratios would change. In comparison with 2019, the value of the raw materials imported from Russia decreased significantly – by PLN 12,348,109 thousand (28.11%) (EURO 3,047,984 thousand), in the case of Germany there was the growth recorded – by PLN 83,368 thousand (0.99%) (the drop in terms of EURO by EURO 37,338 thousand), whereas for Saudi Arabia it dropped by PLN 2,342,378 thousand (34.04%) (EURO 573,208 thousand).

Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2020, by countries

Regarding the magnitude of the turnover directions, the most important countries in raw materials export were: Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. The quantity of raw materials sold to these countries amounted to 6.11 million tonnes, 6.00 million tonnes and 1.84 million tonnes, respectively. It constituted 20.72%, 20.36% and 6.26% of the total export volume in 2020. The export magnitude to these three countries amounted to 47.33% (13.95 million tonnes) of the total raw materials export.

In terms of import magnitude, the first three items on the list were occupied in 2020 by: Russia, Ukraine and Germany. The majority of raw materials was imported from Russia – 31.96 million tonnes which constituted 44.86% of the total import volume; from Ukraine there were 5.40 million tonnes (7.57%) imported, whereas from Germany it was 5.11 million tonnes (7.17%). The import magnitude from these three countries constituted 59.60% (42.47 million tonnes) of the total raw materials import.

There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.

Table 7. The import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products in 2020

The integrated Tariff of the European Union - TARIC

In relation to the previous editions of “The balance…” the list of presented commodities is upgraded according to the Polish Custom Service tabulations. These tabulations are based on the integrated Tariff of the European Union – TARIC. The legal base of the TARIC is Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (Official Journal L 256, 07/09/1987). The Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1006/2011 of 27 September 2011 changing the Annex I to the Regulation No 2658/87 (Official Journal L 282, 28/10/2011).

The TARIC is based on the Combined Nomenclature (CN) which is set up to meet the requirements both of the Common Custom Tariff (CCT) and of the EU’s external trade statistics. The CN is also used in intra-EU trade statistics. The CN was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Every year Annex I to the basic CN Regulation (No 2658/87) is updated and published as a stand-alone Regulation in the EU’s Official Journal (L series). The CN contains about 10,000 items and is the 8-digit code system – it is a further development (with special EU-specific subdivisions) of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS). On the 6-digit level the CN is analogous to the HS. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized System prepared under the auspices of World Customs Organization in Brussels of 14 June 1983 (Official Journal No 11, pos. 62, 1997).

The TARIC is a multilingual database integrating all measures relating to EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. The TARIC is updated and maintained daily in almost every of the EU languages. The TARIC data are transmitted daily via an electronic network to the Member States which guarantee immediate and correct information for the national administrations of the Member States, who use this data mainly to feed their national systems for customs clearance, with the goal of maximizing automatic customs clearance.

The TARIC is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics according to the Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 (Official Journal of 3/02/2000).

In Poland, the TARIC database is carried out by the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Integrated Customs Tariff Information System – ISZTAR 3. It provides detailed information concerning the commodity turnover to the Customs Administration and to all interested in that issue. Both the EU data coming from the TARIC system and the Polish data (VAT and excise taxes), as well as some national non-tariff measures not integrated in the TARIC database, are presented in the browser. Similarly to the TARIC, the ISZTAR is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics.

The tendencies of the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland

The accession to the European Union caused substantial changes in the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland – in 2004 and in the following years. The significant growths of exports and imports value were recorded in 2006 with the magnitude remaining at the similar level as in 2004-2005. Next two years (2007-2008) brought the increase in the import value and volume; the export magnitude decreased while the export value after the drop in 2007 slightly increased in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic crises in 2009 there were drops recorded both for imports and exports – regarding the value and the amount. In 2010 the tendency reversed and growths were noted. In the next two years (2011-2012) such tendency remained regarding the value of the import and the export, whereas the import magnitude grew in 2011, decreased in 2012, and the export volume dropped in 2011 and then increased in 2012. In 2013 the value decreased both for the import and export with the import magnitude drop and the export magnitude increase. In 2014-2015 the value of raw materials turnover dropped. The turnover amount in 2014 decreased for export and increased for import and in 2015 it grew for both turnover aspects. In 2016 the import and export value got better, whereas the import volume grew and the export magnitude decreased. The significant import and the slight export growth were noted in 2017 with the import magnitude growth and the slight export magnitude decline. The similar changes took place in 2018. In 2019, the import decreased, both for the value and for the magnitude, whereas the export value increased slightly and the export volume dropped significatnyl.

The summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2019 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and the value for the total of imports-exports as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1a/1b. The export/import values are presented both in PLN and EURO.

Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials exports and imports in 2019 (value in PLN and in EURO)

The data on the mineral raw materials turnover do not cover natural gas. The 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. The 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 the natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and the value of raw materials brought to 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 analyzed period natural gas import increased from 9-10 billion m³ in 2009-2010 to about 14.95 billion m³ in 2018. Information covering 2019 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 exports and imports of the mineral raw materials in 2018 – the comparison with the previous years

The total raw materials export value increased by 2.02% in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 56,323,891 thousand (EURO 13,105,933 thousand) in 2019. The imports value amounted to PLN 108,057,496 thousand (EURO 25,143,621 thousand), decreasing by 4.67%. The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative and was more gainful – it dropped by PLN 6,415,129 thousand (EURO 1,619,137 thousand) and amounted to PLN 51,733,604 thousand (EURO 12,037,688 thousand) – excluding natural gas. It was the first time for three years with the negative balance drop.

The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2019, were: hard coal and coal derivatives (19.94% of the total export value), crude oil and petroleum products (15.95%), the raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (15,24%), precious metals (7.60%), iron and ferroalloys (6.91%), aluminum (5.69%), silver (4.96%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (4.79%) and insulating materials (2.49%; 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 (58.81% of the total import value), hard coal and coal derivatives (7.23%), aluminum (6.61%), iron and ferroalloys (4.68%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (3.27%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (2.38%), precious metals (1.83%), zinc (1.40%) and bitumen and natural asphalt (1.36%; Fig. 2).

The total quantity of the raw materials imports decreased by 4.95% in 2019 and amounted to 79,108 thousand tonnes, while the export quantity decreased by 9.10% and amounted to 29,646 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 2019

Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2019

Table 2 shows values of an imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 2. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of value in 2010–2019 (PLN million).

It can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the turnover balance remained positive till 2016. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. In the 2017-2018 period the balance got significantly worse and remains negative, the 2019 brought the significant improvement and the noted balance was positove. For three remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative in the analized period. Chemical raw materials are characterized by the declining tendency, especially in 2009-2016; which was stopped only in 2017. For fuels the positive tendency which lasted in the 2015-2016 period, was replaced by the twice balance drop till 2018. In 2019, there was a slightly improvement noted.The balance for rock raw materials decreased in 2011 and in the 2017-2018 period, whereas the most positive tendency was recorded in the 2012-2013 periodn and then in the 2015-2016 period.

Table 3 shows the imports-exports quantity balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 3. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of quantity in 2010–2019 (million tonnes).

The turnover balance within fuels, metals and rocks has been clearly negative in the whole analyzed period. In the case of metallic raw materials the negative tendency has been occurring in the 2012-2018 period and the slight improvement was noted in 2019. The balance for rocks – after a significant drop in 2011 – have been characterized by a quite stable level till 2017. The last two years were characterized by the negative tendency. The balance for fuels was at the quite even level in 2013-2016 and then dropped largely in 2017 and 2018. Such negative tendency was stopped in 2019. For chemical raw materials the balance was slightly positive in 2009 and then was followed by the visible negative tendency in the 2010-2016 period and in the 2019. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of the natural gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 14.95 million tonnes in 2018) the balance would drop in 2019 to about -50.50 million tonnes. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -64.40 million tonnes.

The variation of the imports–exports balance by the value and the quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Figure 3. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN billion)

Figure 4. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (million tonnes)

The value balance decreased substantially in two periods: 2010-2012 and 2017-2018 (Fig. 3). The negative tendency was stopped in the 2013, 2015 and 2019. The lowest level was attained in 2018 - it amounted to PLN -58.15 billion. The quantity balance declined significantly in 2011 (Fig. 4). There was a meaningful improvement of the balance in 2012-2013 when it amounted to -23.31 million tonnes. In 2014-2018 the balance decreased to the level of about -51 million tonnes. The last year brought the slight improvement of the balance. Taking into account the magnitude of the gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 15 million tonnes) the balance would drop in 2019 to about -64.40 million tonnes.

The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2018-2019 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 export (by 5.20%) and chemical import (by 0.80%). The highest decreases were observed within fuels export (by 5.50%) and fuels import (by 2.10%). Fuels are still the most important group regarding Polish imports (mainly due to the crude oil and petroleum products) and metals are the most important group regarding the export (mainly due to the copper).

Figure 5. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2018–2019

Figure 6. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2018–2019

Regarding the quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that only metals export increased in 2019 – by 0.41 million tonnes. Fuels export dropped significantly – by 1.79 million tonnes, and rocks export decreased by 1.15 million tonnes (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. The magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2018–2019 (million tonnes)

There were imports growths within two raw materials groups in 2019. The biggest increase was recorded for chemicals import – by 0.48 million tonnes, while rocks import increased by 0.45 million tonnes. The drops were noted for fuels import and metals import – by 3.85 million tonnes and 1.19 million tonnes, respectively (Fig. 8).

Figure 8. The magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2018–2019 (million tonnes)

Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2018–2019.

Table 4. The comparison between export/import value in 2018–2019 (PLN million)

The total import value in 2019 decreased by 4.67% and export value grew by 2.02% in comparison with 2018. Regarding imports, the value grew significantly only for chemicals – by 10.32%; for rocks and metals it increased slightly – by 1.58% and 0.10%, respectively. There was a siginificant drop recorded for fuels – by 7.53%. The export value rose by 14.70% for metals, by 5.66% for chemicals and by 3.49% for chemicals. In the case of fuels it decreased by 10.26% (Table 4).

Table 5. The comparison between export/import quantity in 2018–2019 (million tonnes)

The total import magnitude in 2019 decreased by 4.95% and the export magnitude increased by 9.10% in comparison with 2018. The import quantity increased within two groups: - chemicals by 7.95%; - rocks by 4.81%. It decreased significantly for metals (by 10.18%) and fuels (by 6.86%). The export quantity increased only for metals – by 11.42%. For the three other groups there were drops recorded – the export magnitude decreased by 20.18% for rocks, by 9.64% for fuels and by 9.05% for chemicals (Table 5).

The quantitative and valuable relations of exports and imports within particular mineral raw materials groups were as follows:

• Fuels – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2019 bigger than export despite not including the data on natural gas. Therefore, the quantity balance was negative and amounted to 35,508 thousand tonnes. It got better by 2,064 thousand tonnes (5.49%) in comparison with 2018. The value balance remained definitely negative and amounted to PLN 51,443,678 thousand. The balance improved by PLN 3,457,237 thousand (6.30%). It was the first time for three years with the balance improvement (in 2018 it enlarged by PLN 16,514,515 thousand (43.02%). Taking into account the natural gas import, the total import value would be much higher and therefore the balance much more negative.
• Metals – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2019 bigger than export and such difference was for the second consecutive year slightly smaller than in the previous year. Despite the negative proportion between the import and the export volume, and thanks to the positive economic situation (the import of more expensive raw materials together with the export of the cheaper ones), till 2016 the value balance was still positive. In the two following years the balance recorded the negative value – in 2017 it got worse in comparison with the previous year by PLN 1,801,291 thousand and amounted to PLN 1,342 203 thousand, whereas in 2018 it remained at the similar level and was equal PLN 1,252,588 thousand (the improvement by PLN 89,615 thousand that is by 6.68%). In 2019, there was the significant improvement noted and the balance was back positive – it amounted to PLN 2,061,470 thousand and got better by PLN 3,314,058 thousand in comparison with 2018.
• Chemicals – similarly to the two groups mentioned above the import amount exceeded the export magnitude in 2019. Therefore, the quantity balance remained negative (2,200 thousand tonnes) and enlarged by 907 thousand tonnes (70.15%). The import value increased by PLN 631,452 thousand (10.32%), whereas the export value increased by PLN 162,196 thousand (3.49%). The value balance remained negative and enlarged in comparison with 2018 – it amounted to PLN 1,944,747 thousand.
• Rocks – the quantity balance was negative and got significantly worse than in 2018 (by 1,600 thousand tonnes – 43.84%). It amounted to 5,250 thousand tonnes. Nevertheless, the value balance got better in comparison with 2018 by PLN 113,090 thousand due to the more significant growth of the export value (by PLN 168,392 thousand – that is by 5.66%) than that of the import value (only by PLN 55,302 thousand – that is by 1.58%).

The main partners of the raw materials exports and imports

Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There were 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).

Table 6. Main directions of mineral raw materials exports and imports in Poland in 2019

Regarding the exports directions, the highest value – similarly to the previous years – was reached by the raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 13,322,806 thousand, which constituted 23.65% of the total Polish raw materials exports value. Other important countries with the significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were: Czech Republic (PLN 6,317,927 thousand – 11.22%) and Netherlands (PLN 3,454,409 thousand – 6.13%; Fig. 9). These three items on the list of the export directions have not changed in comparison with 2018. The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 23,095,141 thousand (41.00% of the total export value).

Figure 9. The Polish raw materials export in 2019, by countries

The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2019 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 43,930,247 thousand, which constituted 40.65% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (PLN 8,447,008 thousand – 7.82%) and Saudi Arabia (PLN 6,881,976 thousand – 6.37%; Fig. 10). The first two items on the list of the import directions have not changed in comparison with 2018, whereas Saudi Arabia took the place occupied in 2018 by Kazakhstan. The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 59,259,232 thousand (54.84% of the total import value).

There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.

Table 7. The import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products in 2019

Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2019, by countries

The integrated Tariff of the European Union - TARIC

In relation to the previous editions of “The balance…” the list of presented commodities is upgraded according to the Polish Custom Service tabulations. These tabulations are based on the integrated Tariff of the European Union – TARIC. The legal base of the TARIC is Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (Official Journal L 256, 07/09/1987). The Regulation was amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1006/2011 of 27 September 2011 changing the Annex I to the Regulation No 2658/87 (Official Journal L 282, 28/10/2011).

The TARIC is based on the Combined Nomenclature (CN) which is set up to meet the requirements both of the Common Custom Tariff (CCT) and of the EU’s external trade statistics. The CN is also used in intra-EU trade statistics. The CN was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff. Every year Annex I to the basic CN Regulation (No 2658/87) is updated and published as a stand-alone Regulation in the EU’s Official Journal (L series). The CN contains about 10,000 items and is the 8-digit code system – it is a further development (with special EU-specific subdivisions) of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Nomenclature (HS). On the 6-digit level the CN is analogous to the HS. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized System prepared under the auspices of World Customs Organization in Brussels of 14 June 1983 (Official Journal No 11, pos. 62, 1997).

The TARIC is a multilingual database integrating all measures relating to EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. The TARIC is updated and maintained daily in almost every of the EU languages. The TARIC data are transmitted daily via an electronic network to the Member States which guarantee immediate and correct information for the national administrations of the Member States, who use this data mainly to feed their national systems for customs clearance, with the goal of maximizing automatic customs clearance.

The TARIC is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics according to the Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 (Official Journal of 3/02/2000).

In Poland, the TARIC database is carried out by the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Integrated Customs Tariff Information System – ISZTAR 3. It provides detailed information concerning the commodity turnover to the Customs Administration and to all interested in that issue. Both the EU data coming from the TARIC system and the Polish data (VAT and excise taxes), as well as some national non-tariff measures not integrated in the TARIC database, are presented in the browser. Similarly to the TARIC, the ISZTAR is not legally binding, nevertheless it’s codes have to be used during the custom clearance and in statistics.

The tendencies of the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland

The accession to the European Union caused substantial changes in the mineral raw materials turnover in Poland – in 2004 and in the following years. The significant growths of exports and imports value were recorded in 2006 with the magnitude remaining at the similar level as in 2004-2005. Next two years (2007-2008) brought the increase in the import value and volume; the export magnitude decreased while the export value after the drop in 2007 slightly increased in 2008. Due to the worldwide economic crises in 2009 there were drops recorded both for imports and exports – regarding the value and the amount. In 2010 the tendency reversed and growths were noted. In the next two years (2011-2012) such tendency remained regarding the value of the import and the export, whereas the import magnitude grew in 2011, decreased in 2012, and the export volume dropped in 2011 and then increased in 2012. In 2013 the value decreased both for the import and export with the import magnitude drop and the export magnitude increase. In 2014-2015 the value of raw materials turnover dropped. The turnover amount in 2014 decreased for export and increased for import and in 2015 it grew for both turnover aspects. In 2016 the import and export value got better, whereas the import volume grew and the export magnitude decreased. The significant import and the slight export growth were noted in 2017 with the import magnitude growth and the slight export magnitude decline. The similar changes took place in 2018.

The summary statistic for minerals and mineral commodities in Poland in 2018 was presented within four groups: fuels, metals, chemicals and rocks. The magnitude and the value for the total of imports-exports as well as for the particular groups of raw materials are presented in Table 1a/1b. The export/import values are presented both in PLN and EURO.

Table 1a/1b. Mineral raw materials exports and imports in 2018 (value in PLN and in EURO)

The data on the mineral raw materials turnover do not cover natural gas. The 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. The 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 the natural gas import to Poland brings down the total amount and the value of raw materials brought to 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 analyzed period natural gas import increased from 9-10 billion m³ in 2009-2010 to about 15.44 billion m³ in 2017. Information covering 2018 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 exports and imports of the mineral raw materials in 2018 – the comparison with the previous years

The total raw materials export value increased by 9.77% in comparison with the previous year and amounted to PLN 55,206,742 thousand (EURO 12,974,169 thousand) in 2018. The imports value amounted to PLN 113,355,475 thousand (EURO 26,630,994 thousand), increasing substantially – by 23.62%. The exports-imports turnover balance remained negative and was much more adverse – it enlarged by 40.46% (PLN 16,748,519 thousand, EURO 3,964,611 thousand) and amounted to PLN 58,148,733 thousand (EURO 13,656,825 thousand) – excluding natural gas. It was the second consecutive year with the negative balance growth.

The most important, regarding the value of the raw materials exports in 2018, were: hard coal and coal derivatives (21.08% of the total export value), crude oil and petroleum products (20.34%), the raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (13.29%), iron and ferroalloys (7.09%), aluminum (6.58%), precious metals (4.56%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (4.39%), silver (3.80%) and insulating materials (2.36%; 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 (60.37% of the total import value), hard coal and coal derivatives (7.93%), aluminum (7.08%), iron and ferroalloys (4.83%), raw materials and products of copper metallurgy (2.58%), nitrogen and multi-component fertilizers (1.89%), zinc (1.45%), precious metals (1.23%) and potassium raw materials (1.02%; Fig. 2).

The total quantity of the raw materials imports increased by 15.44% in 2018 and amounted to 83,228 thousand tonnes, while the export quantity decreased by 1.75% and amounted to 32,618 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 2018

Figure 2. The structure of mineral raw materials imports in Poland in 2018

Table 2 shows values of an imports-exports balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 2. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of value in 2009–2018 (PLN million).

It can be seen that only for metallic raw materials the turnover balance remained positive till 2016. Nevertheless, it should be noted that 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with the declining balance for this group. In the 2017-2018 period the balance got significantly worse and nowadays remains negative. For three remaining raw material groups the balance has been clearly negative in the analized period. Chemical raw materials are characterized by the declining tendency, especially in 2009-2016; which was stopped only in 2017. For fuels the positive tendency which lasted in the 2015-2016 period, was replaced by the twice balance drop till 2018. The balance for rock raw materials was decreasing in 2010-2011, this negative trend has been stopped in the five following years and then it again decreased in the 2017-2018 period.

Table 3 shows the imports-exports quantity balance of particular mineral raw materials groups in last 10 years.

Table 3. The balance of Polish mineral raw materials turnover in terms of quantity in 2009–2018 (million tonnes).

The turnover balance within fuels, metals and rocks has been clearly negative in the whole analyzed period. In the case of metallic raw materials the negative tendency has been occurring since 2012, the balance for rocks – after significant drops in 2008-2012 – have been characterized by a quite stable level in the last few years. The balance for fuels was at the quite even level in 2013-2016 and then dropped largely in 2017 and 2018. For chemical raw materials the balance was slightly positive in 2009 and then was followed by the visible negative tendency in the next seven years. Considering fuels, it should be noted that taking into account the magnitude of the natural gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 15.4 million tonnes in 2017) the balance would drop in 2018 to about -53 million tonnes. Accordingly, the total balance would decrease to about -66 million tonnes.

The variation of the imports–exports balance by the value and the quantity for the last 10 years is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

Figure 3. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials value (PLN billion)

Figure 4. The balance of Polish imports and exports in terms of mineral raw materials quantity (million tonnes)

The value balance decreased substantially in two periods: 2010-2011 and 2017-2018 (Fig. 3). The negative tendency was stopped in 2012-2013 and 2015. The lowest level was attained in 2018 - it amounted to PLN -58.15 billion. The quantity balance declined significantly in 2010-2011 (Fig. 4). There was a meaningful improvement of the balance in 2012-2013 when it amounted to -23.31 million tonnes. In 2014-2018 the balance decreased to the level of about -51 million tonnes. Taking into account the magnitude of the gas import given by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (about 15.4 million tonnes) the balance would drop in 2018 to about -66 million tonnes.

The percentage contributions of the particular groups of raw materials to the value of exports and imports in 2017-2018 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 fuels import (by 5.3%) and fuels export (by 2.7%). The highest decreases were observed within metals import (by 4.2%) and metals export (by 2.4%). Fuels are still the most important group regarding Polish imports (mainly due to the crude oil and petroleum products) and export (mainly due to the petroleum products and coke and semi-coke).

Figure 5. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish exports in 2017–2018

Figure 6. The contribution of mineral raw materials to the value of Polish imports in 2017–2018

Regarding the quantity of raw materials exports it can be seen that rocks export increased in 2018 – by 0.92 million tonnes, whereas metals export grew by 0.38 million tonnes. Fuels export dropped significantly – by 1.47 million tonnes, and chemical export decreased by 0.43 million tonnes (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. The magnitude of mineral raw materials exports in 2017–2018 (million tonnes)

There were imports growths within three raw materials groups in 2018. The biggest increase was recorded for fuels import – by 8.88 million tonnes, while rocks import increased by 2.06 million tonnes and metals import by 0.35 million tonnes. The only drop was noted forchemicals import – by 0.17 million tonnes (Fig. 8).

Figure 8. The magnitude of mineral raw materials imports in 2017–2018 (million tonnes)

Tables given below show the comparison between export/import values (Table 4) and quantities (Table 5) in 2017–2018.

Table 4. The comparison between export/import value in 2017–2018 (PLN million)

The total import value in 2018 increased by 23.62% and export value by 9.77% in comparison with 2017. Regarding imports, the value grew significantly for two groups: - fuels by 33.64%; - rocks by 22.05%. There were also slightly increases - for metals by 3.30% and for chemicals by 3.05%. The export value rose by 16.74% for fuels, by 13.56% for rocks, by 3.92% for metals and by 2.96% for chemicals (Table 4).

Table 5. The comparison between export/import quantity in 2017–2018 (million tonnes)

The total import magnitude in 2018 increased by 15.44% and the export magnitude decreased by 1.75% in comparison with 2017. The import quantity increased within three groups: - rocks by 28.26%; - fuels by 18.81%; - metals by 3.09%. It decreased for chemicals by 2.74%. The export quantity increased for rocks – by 19.25%, and for metals – by 11.84%. For the two other groups there were drops recorded – the export magnitude decreased by 8.30% for chemicals and by 7.34% for fuels (Table 5).

The quantitative and valuable relations of exports and imports within particular mineral raw materials groups were as follows:

• Fuels – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2018 bigger than export despite not including the data on natural gas. Therefore, the quantity balance was negative and amounted to 37,572 thousand tonnes. It got worse by 10,352 thousand tonnes (38.03%) in comparison with 2017. The value balance remained definitely negative and amounted to PLN 54,900,915 thousand. The balance got worse by PLN 16,514,515 thousand (43.02%). It was the second year of the negative tendency – in 2017 it enlarged by PLN 12,687,113 thousand (49.37%). Taking into account the natural gas import, the total import value would be much higher and therefore the balance much more negative.
• Metals – the quantity of the raw materials import was in 2018 bigger than export and such difference was slightly smaller than in 2017. The quantity balance was negative and equal 8,095 thousand tonnes (smaller by 41 thousand tonnes – 0.50% in comparison with 2017). Despite such proportion, two years ago (in 2016) the positive value balance was noted – due to the beneficial price situation (the more expensive metals were being sold and the cheaper ones bought by Poland). Still in 2016 the balance amounted to PLN 459,088 thousand. However in 2017 the value balance for the first time dropped to the negative one – it got worse in comparison with 2016 by PLN 1,801,291 thousand and amounted to PLN 1,342,203 thousand. In 2018 the balance remained at the similar level and amounted to PLN 1,252,588 thousand (improved by PLN 89,615 thousand – 6.68%).
• Chemicals – similarly to the two groups mentioned above the import amount exceeded the export magnitude in 2018. Therefore, the quantity balance remained negative (1,293 thousand tonnes) and enlarged by 260 thousand tonnes (25.17%). The import value increased by PLN 180,874 thousand (3.05%), whereas the export value increased by PLN 133,408 thousand (2.96%). The value balance remained negative and enlarged in comparison with 2017 – it amounted to PLN 1,428,025 thousand.
• Rocks – the quantity balance was negative and got significantly worse than in 2017 (by 1,148 thousand tonnes – 45.88%). It amounted to 3,650 thousand tonnes. The value balance remained negative and enlarged more than twice in comparison with 2017 (213.37%) - the export value increased by PLN 354,933 thousand (13.56%) whereas the import value grew by PLN 631,086 thousand (22.05%). The balance amounted to PLN 519,739 thousand.

The main partners of the raw materials exports and imports

Directions of Polish export and import of mineral raw materials (divided into 4 main groups) are presented in Table 6. There were 25 most important countries selected (according to import/export value).

Table 6. Main directions of mineral raw materials exports and imports in Poland in 2018

Regarding the exports directions, the highest value – similarly to the previous years – was reached by the raw materials export to Germany. It amounted to PLN 12,815,230 thousand, which constituted 23.21% of the total Polish raw materials exports value. Other important countries with the significant contribution to the total Polish raw materials exports value were: Czech Republic (PLN 6,100,504 thousand – 11.05%) and Netherlands (PLN 4,309,674 thousand – 7.81%) (Fig. 9). These three items on the list of the export directions have not changed in comparison with 2017. The total export value to these three countries amounted to PLN 23,225,408 thousand (42.07% of the total export value).

Figure 9. The Polish raw materials export in 2018, by countries

The major part of the mineral raw materials imports in 2018 came from Russia. The import value was PLN 50,619,996 thousand, which constituted 44.66% of the total mineral raw materials imports value in Poland. Other important countries were Germany (PLN 9,380,896 thousand – 8.28%) and Kazakhstan (PLN 6,346,505 thousand – 5.60%) (Fig. 10). The first two items on the list of the import directions have not changed in comparison with 2017, whereas Kazakhstan took the place occupied in 2017 by Norway. The total import value from these three countries amounted to PLN 66,347,397 thousand (58.53% of the total import value).

There are quantities and values of import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products presented in the Table 7.

Table 7. The import and export of mineral raw materials and selected semi-finished products in 2018

Figure 10. Polish raw materials import in 2018, by countries