TŽ Annual Report 2008 in pdf, 7.5 MB - Třinecké železárny

8. Board of Directors’ ReportDevelopment of the Macroeconomic Environment and CompetitionIn 2008, the Czech Republic witnessed the lowest gross domestic product growth of past six years, which climbed year on year by3.1 percent. Foreign trade and industrial production which have been drivers of the Czech economy were influenced mostly by thesignificantly different development in the last two quarters of 2008 compared with previous years. The alternations caused by thefinancial crisis, particularly a decline in export orders and tightening credit conditions led to unprecedented performance drops in theCzech economy as well as in Europe and as a consequence caused an increase in stock levels and work in progress. In relation to foreigntrade, neither export nor import reached the level of 2007. The negative contribution of foreign trade to gross domestic product growthis due to the decline of total goods export volume (–8.4 percent) which is higher than the decline of the goods import volume (–6.2percent).In 2008, steel production in the Czech Republic fell year on year by almost 10 percent, from 7.1 million tonnes to 6.4 million tonnes.Třinecké železárny’s share in this volume is 38.3 percent which represents year-on-year growth of 2 percent. The Czech Republic’s tradebalance showed year-on-year growth in imported steel products by 4.8 percent due to the increased import of semis and flat products.Conversely, the export of steel products declined by 5.5 percent, particularly regarding semis and steel tubes. The portfolio of long andflat rolled products witnessed a partial decrease in exports as well. Considering the total balance, the drop in the debit balance wasslightly reduced and reached the value of CZK 18,155 million. This result is principally due to the year-on-year increase in export pricesand decrease in import prices. For the first time the average import price fell below the level of the average export price of steel products.With regard to the annual consumption of steel products, the Czech Republic placed third and ranked in the top global category onceagain. The per capita consumption of steel products is nearly 250 kg higher than the average in EU countries, where it amounted to378 kg per capita in 2008.TRANSPORTTŘINECKÉ ŽELEZÁRNY USES ON ITS AREARAILWAY TRACKS WITH THE LENGTH OF 121 KMWITH 676 SWITCHES AND 137 GRADE CROSSINGS12