Analysis of Czech agricultural exports to Russia using mirror statistics

Objective: The objective of the article is to verify the possibilities of mirror statistics of Russian imports for the analysis and identification of problems of Czech agricultural exports to the Russian market. Research Design & Methods: The supply of agricultural products and foodstuffs (APF) to Russia in 2015-2018 was the focus of the study. We scrutinised the permissibility of using mirror statistics for analysis and formulated algorithms for aggregating and disaggregating foreign trade indices (FT-indices) in calculating and studying the group dynamics of the most important APF goods. Findings: We prove the acceptability of using mirror statistics for APF from the viewpoint of methodological standards by determining the position of the most important Czech APF products on the Russian market, including a comparison with similar imported goods. The study revealed that Czech statistics on beer exports to Russia should be increased by the amount of re-exports. Implications & Recommendations: We formulate recommendations for the development of Czech APF exports to Russia for leaders’ goods, taking into account prices for similar imported goods. For beer (trade leader), we recommend enhancing the use of the intellectual property factor for trade growth. Moreover, we give recommendations on statistics of Czech exports to Russia on the need to adjust beer export volumes taking into account re-exports. Contribution & Value Added: The research is original, as there were no studies prior to this one that would apply mirror statistics as an additional database and tool for identifying export problems not observed by national statistics.