Czech Republic's trade surplus narrows in September

In September 2026, the Czech Republic's trade surplus narrowed to CZK 23.7 billion, down from CZK 27 billion in the same period last year, but still above market expectations of CZK 11.6 billion. Exports increased by 7.8% year-on-year to CZK 456.8 billion, while imports grew at a faster pace, rising 9.2% to CZK 433.1 billion. Export growth was mainly driven by higher sales of crude oil and natural gas (+174.8%), electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning (+152.6%), tobacco products (+49.5%), and other manufactured goods (+13.4%). Meanwhile, import growth was primarily due to increased purchases of metal ores (+147.2%), crude oil and natural gas (+56.4%), electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning (+36.2%), and computers, electronic and optical products (+29.8%). From January to September, as import growth (5.6%) outpaced export growth (3.9%), the trade surplus narrowed to CZK 101.9 billion, compared to CZK 153.6 billion in the same period last year.