According to the report of the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) “Polish exporters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the survey”, the COVID-19 pandemic caused turbulence in world trade that continues to this day affecting Polish exporters. Despite the record surplus in Polish exports in 2020 and the record value of Polish trade in 2021, half of the Polish exporters experienced declines in the number of orders,

According to Marek Wąsiński, the head of the global economy team at PIE, the study shows that Polish exporters compete primarily with price, but the importance of non-price competition, i.e. elements such as quality and advertising, is growing.

“It is worth noting that 14% of the surveyed exporters indicated that during the pandemic they managed to take over supplies to Germany from other directions. It was certainly helped by price competitiveness, flexibility in adjusting production, the successful search for new customers, as well as global trends in shortening supply chains”, claims Marek Wąsiński.

The pandemic contributed to the growth of Germany’s share of Polish exports. The sale of Polish goods across the Oder during the pandemic grew faster than all Polish exports, which is why Germany increased its share in Polish exports by 1% in 2021. compared to 2019 achieving a result of 28.7%. Despite Poland’s deficit in trade in goods in 2021, the positive balance with Germany not only was maintained but also increased compared to 2020.

The second place, with 6% of the share in Polish exports, is still taken by the Czech Republic, although the growth rate of exports was lower than the average. France benefited from the slowdown in UK exports. Following a decline in sales in the French market in 2020, exports to France in 2021 increased by more than 20%, beating the average pace. Thus, although the share in Polish exports decreased from 5.9% up to 5.7% in 2019-2021, France became the third Polish market.

Adrian Andrzejewski order