Czech National Bank research suggests foreign ownership links helped Czech exporters gain market share in 2022–2024

The Czech National Bank published a research article by Anna Kábrtová examining why Czech industrial exports remained resilient during Europe’s recent slowdown. It finds that Czechia increased its global industrial export market share by about 6% in 2022–2024, outperforming the countries compared, and suggests that strong foreign ownership links within multinational production chains helped cushion exporters against weak demand in key markets. Using a shift-share decomposition, the article attributes the gain mainly to positive sectoral and performance effects, while the geographical mix of exports was a drag because Germany takes almost 30% of Czech exports. Supply chain disruptions in motor vehicles, machinery and electrical equipment faded, and Czech firms raised their share of the German market by almost 10% even though Germany’s weakness reduced Czechia’s market share by around 3 percentage points on a structural basis. The article points to foreign-controlled firms generating more than three-quarters of Czech exports and to Czechia’s FDI position of 65% of GDP at the end of 2024, with particularly high manufacturing exposure, as evidence that intra-group trade links may have made exports less cyclical. It also notes that direct data on intra-company trade are limited and that the views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily the official position of the Czech National Bank.