Blog by Michael Clay

Renewable Energy Conference London January 26th


To kick start activities for the New Year, the British Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPPC) in partnership with the Conservative Friends of Poland (CFoP) will be hosting a seminar:

Renewable Energy & Carbon Reduction
What is Poland and the UK doing about EU recommendations

The event will take place at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel at 22 Portman Square. London W1H 7BG on Wednesday 26th January 2011 and will be attened by the UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change who will be the main speaker.

This seminar will review renewable energy sources and look at carbon reduction in both Poland and the UK and compare the developments in each country as well as the Government and EU incentives that are in place. As new and sustainable energy sources have the potential to provide energy services with almost ZERO emissions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases, the popularity is gaining huge momentum in both the UK and Poland. The seminar will endeavour to examine the progress in each country and examine the various options that are in place.

A number of prominent speakers will talk about the new innovations in Renewables and carbon Reduction

Tickets are £40 (+20% VAT) for members and £55  (+20% VAT) for non members.

Please click HERE to download the event programme.

 

Please complete the registration HERE and make payment to reserve your place.
Please see :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQJP_cUo_c

Retail Sales Likely to Grow Record High Ahead of VAT Hikes

Polish retail sales in December may be 13.1 percent higher year on year, which would be the best monthly result since mid-2008, the daily Rzeczpospolita writes citing stats office GUS' and Invest-Bank's forecasts.

The high spending is mainly the result of consumers' haste in purchases ahead of the VAT hikes expected next year, Invest-Bank economist Jakub Borowski told the daily.

Can such increases in spending just be attributed to the proposed increase in the VAT rate - after all it will be a 1% increase - hardly a real hike in final retail pricing.

Perhaps this is just an increase in the business which naturally takes place every December due to the Christmas spending spree and the fact that Poles are generally better off now than ever before.

Poland Improving Amid Crisis

Mid-September marked two years since the Lehman Brothers bank filed for bankruptcy, an event that had triggered the worst financial crisis around the world since the Great Depression. The turbulence on global financial markets led to the spectacular collapse of a string of high-profile financial institutions and large companies. Some countries found themselves in serious trouble. Greece even faced a threat of bankruptcy.

Poland, meanwhile, avoided most of these problems and was one of the few developed countries that did not plunge into recession. Paradoxically, Poland’s international profile improved thanks to the crisis. Financial markets started to perceive Poland as a large and growing European economy rather than merely a part of Central and Eastern Europe.

The improvement in Poland’s ratings abroad is coupled with an increased interest in the country among investors. According to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), in the first half of this year, foreign direct investment in the country was more than 80 percent higher than in the same period of 2009, even though 2009 was quite a good year in terms of FDI.

What attracts investors to Poland is that its economy is growing despite the global crisis. But the fact that the Polish economy is increasingly open and competitive is also an important factor. In a league table compiled by the World Economic Forum, Poland is ranked 39th among 139 economies in terms of competitiveness, ahead of Italy, Spain and Portugal, but behind the Czech Republic and Estonia. Although this 39th place does not seem to measure up to Poland’s potential and aspirations, the country has made significant progress compared with the previous league table in which it ranked 46th.

In producing its tables, the World Economic Forum takes into account economic statistics and views expressed by business executives. It uses criteria such as the quality of the institutional environment, the legal and administrative framework in which businesses operate, the quality of infrastructure, education and the health service, technology and innovation. Poland traditionally receives poor marks for the state of its infrastructure. Innovation is not a strong point of the Polish economy, either. In this year’s league table, Poland ranks 53rd in terms of innovation. The reason is that there is no tradition of collaboration between business and science in Poland. In developed economies, a third of the money spent on innovation comes from the state budget and two-thirds from private companies. The size of spending on innovation is another important factor. In Poland, this spending accounts for 0.6 percent of GDP, compared with around 3 percent of GDP in Switzerland and Japan. This shows that Poland still has a long way to go to become an innovative country.

Polish Exports Gaining Momentum

Polish export is accelerating, with the Q1 2010 growth amounting to 14% y/y while the respective y/y figure for January-February stood at 7.4%, Puls Biznesu daily writes.

The situation of Polish exporters is improving and will continue to do so, Raiffeisen Bank economist Marta Petka-Zagajewska told the daily.

The majority of the countries Poland exports to are recovering and, so their demand for Polish products will increase; secondly, the Greek debt problems weakened the zloty, which gave Polish exporters a temporary competitive advantage, Petka-Zagajewska said.

What an excellent result for Poland and it's exporters. Just what Poland needs to maintain their position as the leading economy in Europe.

Unfortunately, not such good news for the UK where we still need more impetus on exporting and we should perhaps take a leaf out of the book from poland.  At present the UK is the 4th largest export market for Poland but Poland is only the 7th largest export market for the UK.

This disparity must end and more effort should be made by British exporters to look more closely at the Eastern Europe market and especially at Poland with it's 38 Million population.

Perhaps the new UK Coalition Government will give some incentives to UK exporters to 'DRIVE' Britain forward and help the UK economy n the way it NEEDS to be helped. We need to support all sectors of the export market but very importantly we need to help the SME sector the most.

The Uk SME market represents one of the most important parts of the Uk economy and failure to support these businesses will not help Britain to 'Change'

The time is NOW!. We must export more from the UK and we must look towards the new markets.

Poland's 2009 GDP Grows 1.7 pct y/y

Poland's GDP grew an estimated 1.7% year-on-year in 2009, slightly above expectations for 1.6%, while investments fell 0.3% with domestic demand down by 0.9%, the stats office GUS reported yesterday citing preliminary estimates.

The data are a bit better than expected and suggest that the economy grew about 3.2% year on year [in Q4]. This isn't especially controversial given the data on production, sales and construction that we've had. BNP Paribas analyst Michal Dybuła told PAP news agency.

The story we hear every day confirms that Poland has come through this past two years not entirely unscathed but nevertheless in amazing shape. Economically, Poland has really surpassed all expectations, for when the Global Crisis started, no one had even thought of the way in which the world would change.

The majority of EU members and the rest of the Western World never saw their economy grow during the past 12 months and it is really a credit to Poland and it's Government that the results we see now are confirmed to be BETTER than had been anticipated.

NOW is the time for British exporters to take advantage and begin to view Poland as an exciting place to export to. Where the value of the British product is considered to be high whilst the real costs are LOW due to the value of the POUND on the world money market.

I plead with British manufacturers and those supplying goods and services - LOOK AT POLAND - this is a country that wants to buy from you - you are just turning a blind eye and losing this wonderful opportunity.

Polish Businessmen Take Their Businesses Out of Poland

The number of Polish companies deciding to register companies outside Poland grew 20% y/y to over 4k annually, the daily Puls Biznesu writes citing Polish trust companies association SPP's data.

Poles register their business abroad to save on taxes or take advantage of better conditions for business, trust company Opustrust CEO Agnieszka Rzepecka told the daily.

Perhaps Polish companies realise the potential of exporting and trading overseas more than their British counterparts do at the moment. The ease with which Polish companies can set up in the UK is just one example of why Polish exports are on the increase and British exports to Poland are reducing year on year.

Why is it that the British Exporter FAILS to see the opportunity that is staring themin the face by exporting to Poland? With sterling at such a low value the opportunity is sitting there for the UK companies to grab with both hands - yet they fail to do so. WHY?

Perhaps the new ' Business Incubator' service which Export Poland has just started will help to resolve this. With the Business Incubator, British and overseas companies can be trading in Poland within 48 hours of setting up with a Company, Bank account and all relevant tax registrations. They will look after every aspect of the incubation and create the business opportunity for the company as well.

Contact Michael Clay for more details:-

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Approves Public Assistance for Polish Dell Plant

The European Commission okayed 54.5 million euros of regional aid for establishing Dell Products Poland's computer manufacturing plant in Łódź, yesterday.

The Commission decided that the investment project will significantly contribute to the regional development and job creation in a disadvantaged region of Łódź province, and that these benefits outweigh any potential negative effects of the aid on competition and trade.

The total value of Dell's investment in Łódź amounts to 189.6 million euros.

This is fantastic news for the Łódz region as Dell has already proved themselves to be one of the largest employers in the region making Łódź a huge centre for electronic manufacturing and assembly

We now need more and more companies from the UK and Europe taking up the opportunities that exist in Poland's second largest city.

The British Polish Chamber of Commerce have a Business Point Centre in Łódź which enables new busnesses to easily start up with a complete serviced office for next to nothing. Enquiries should be sent to us at Export Poland on the contacts form.