COAL

Environmental tax reform will increase coal prices 10 percent when it is introduced in 2008, Environment Minister Martin Bursík told Czech Television Feb. 11. Gas and electricity prices will also see a minor increase. The government hopes to offset the increase by using nearly 26 billion Kč ($1.2 billion) in European Union subsidies.

František Koníček stepped down as chief executive of state-run forest company Lesy České republiky (LČR) Feb. 12, a company spokesman told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). The company has faced problems with its logging tenders since 2004. Company officials say all steps taken in connection with the tenders were legal. Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovič put LČR’s Jiří Holický in charge of managing the company.

Electricity consumption increased 2.9 percent in 2006 to nearly 60 terawatt hours, the Energy Regulatory Office announced on its Web site. Consumption increased in every category, including household consumption. Electricity production only grew 2.1 percent, which forced electricity exports down 3.5 percent.

Customs officers seized more than 30 million Kč in counterfeit goods during a two-day raid in Strážný, south Bohemia, a customs official told ČTK Feb. 11. Nearly 60 officers, in conjunction with German authorities, captured 35,000 articles of knockoff clothes and pirated CDs and DVDs. Customs officers in north Bohemia also seized an undisclosed number of pirated CDs and DVDs Feb. 10.

President Václav Klaus will be in Japan until Feb. 17 in an effort to build upon economic relations that have been bolstered in recent years, ČTK reported. Czech exports to Japan have doubled since 2004, and last year the two nations exchanged goods worth more than 72 billion Kč, mostly in the automotive and electronics industries.

Fewer Czechs are leaving work due to illness, but the ones who leave are staying away longer. The average length of sick leave for Czech employees increased almost three days in 2006 to 36.5 days, the Czech Social Authority (ČSSZ) announced. The ČSSZ registered 2.9 million people on sick leave last year, a drop of 315,000 on 2005. Two-fifths of the illnesses involved respiratory ailments, and the ČSSZ paid out 32.8 billion Kč in sickness benefits in 2006.

Sales in the textile and clothing industries fell 3.7 percent to 54.5 billion Kč last year, according to preliminary results of the Czech Association of Textile, Clothing and Leather Industries released Feb. 13. The data was culled from companies with more than 20 employees. The major obstacles to growth included a strengthening crown and increased energy prices.