and with new members amounted to EUR 11 billion. This surplus almost allows to compensate completely the deficit with regarding the import of raw materials from third party countries and goods from Asian market (in particular Chinese and South Korean markets). Thanks to that the total trade deficit was only about EUR 2 billion in 2014 (Ministry of Economy, 2014). Figure 14. Changes in the geographical structure of trade in goods (in EUR million) Source: Ministry of Economy of Poland. (2014); Report on Foreign Trade The table above depicts the biggest Polish trade partners. Germany remains the leader in this classification. Since 2004 the exports to the biggest European neighbor have been raising from the level of almost EUR 18 billion in order to reach almost EUR 39 billion in 2013. This value can be translated to slightly over than 25% of all the Polish exports. When it comes to the imports they also have been growing over the same period from the value of EUR 17 billion to slightly over EUR 34 billion, which accounts for 21.7% of all Polish imports. Even though the volumes to and from Germany have increased over the past decade the share has decreased. It clearly shows that Polish entrepreneurs successfully found new export markets and diversified their customers’ portfolios. Recently, the surplus in the trade between Poland and Germany increased almost 10 times in favor to Poland to reach the level of almost EUR 5 billion in 2013. The second most significant market is the United Kingdom. The UK advanced from the fourth place in 2004 and the share of the export and import amounted from 5.4% and 3.3% to 6.5% and 2.6% respectively. Poland started to sell more to the UK market and in the same time it decreased its share of imports. The trade surplus with respect to the UK attained the level of EUR 6 billion in 2013. The increase in cooperation with the Visegrad Group countries is especially visible while looking at the trade balance. The Czech Republic has become our third biggest partner (behind Germany and UK) with a share of 6.2% of all the Polish exports, which accounts for EUR 9.5 billion. In 2004 the Czech Republic ranked for a fifth biggest partner with a total share of 4.2% Polish exports. Slovakia and Hungary also made a great progress. Both
and with new members amounted to EUR 11 billion. This surplus almost allows to compensate completely the deficit with regarding the import of raw materials from third party countries and goods from Asian market (in particular Chinese and South Korean markets). Thanks to that the total trade deficit was only about EUR 2 billion in 2014 (Ministry of Economy, 2014). Figure 14. Changes in the geographical structure of trade in goods (in EUR million) Source: Ministry of Economy of Poland. (2014); Report on Foreign Trade The table above depicts the biggest Polish trade partners. Germany remains the leader in this classification. Since 2004 the exports to the biggest European neighbor have been raising from the level of almost EUR 18 billion in order to reach almost EUR 39 billion in 2013. This value can be translated to slightly over than 25% of all the Polish exports. When it comes to the imports they also have been growing over the same period from the value of EUR 17 billion to slightly over EUR 34 billion, which accounts for 21.7% of all Polish imports. Even though the volumes to and from Germany have increased over the past decade the share has decreased. It clearly shows that Polish entrepreneurs successfully found new export markets and diversified their customers’ portfolios. Recently, the surplus in the trade between Poland and Germany increased almost 10 times in favor to Poland to reach the level of almost EUR 5 billion in 2013. The second most significant market is the United Kingdom. The UK advanced from the fourth place in 2004 and the share of the export and import amounted from 5.4% and 3.3% to 6.5% and 2.6% respectively. Poland started to sell more to the UK market and in the same time it decreased its share of imports. The trade surplus with respect to the UK attained the level of EUR 6 billion in 2013. The increase in cooperation with the Visegrad Group countries is especially visible while looking at the trade balance. The Czech Republic has become our third biggest partner (behind Germany and UK) with a share of 6.2% of all the Polish exports, which accounts for EUR 9.5 billion. In 2004 the Czech Republic ranked for a fifth biggest partner with a total share of 4.2% Polish exports. Slovakia and Hungary also made a great progress. Both