The Republic of Poland presents a strategically located market for imported goods. One key advantage is that Poland benefits from its proximity to fellow large Central European countries.

The 100 most valuable consumer products imported into Poland in 2020 generated a subtotal US$110.2 billion worth of international sales. That consumer-generated dollar amount represents 43.3% of the overall value of all goods imported into Poland–an overall $254.7 billion worth of spending.

Poland is the European Union’s fifth-most populated member trailing only Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The Central European nation with the native name of Polska shares its northeastern land borders with Russia, Lithuania and Belarus, Ukraine and Slovakia to its southeast, and the Czech Republic and Germany to its west.

While the country’s official language is Polish, about one third of Poland’s population speaks English, over one quarter speaks Russian, and almost one fifth speaks German.

Calculated by total sales, the 5 most valuable consumer products imported into Poland during 2020 were cars, automobile parts or accessories, phones, medications and computers.

The total dollar amount for the top 100 imported consumer products from Poland increased by 4.2% from 2019 to 2020. That top 100 consumer metric exceeds the 3.2% rise for all of Poland’s imported goods for the year.

Poland’s purchases of imported products, both overall and for consumer goods, increased whereas the global endured an average decline of -8.2% from 2019 to 2020 for all importing countries.

Among the top 100 consumer products imported by Poland, 68 increased in total value from 2019 to 2020 whereas 32 declined.

Changes in Polish consumer demand for essential imports offer future opportunities for international suppliers who correctly anticipate which upward or downward trends will continue.

Consumer Products Defined

Economics educator BoyceWire defines a consumer product as a final good or end product that a business creates for consumers to buy. For example, consumers often purchase refined petroleum oil at the gas station while imported crude oil is an intermediate good subject to further processing before being sold to end users.

Although there may be a few wealthy individual buyers, products like turbojets are excluded from the consumer products targeted by this study. That is because turbojets are usually purchased by corporations. In contrast, it is common for a consumer to buy a motorcycle.

Types of Consumer Products

This article focuses on 3 distinct consumer product types.

Convenience Products are easy to access, non-durable, have relatively lower prices and therefore consumers frequently purchase them. Examples of convenience products are food, alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, and soap.

Shopping Products are not as easily available, involve more time to make a buying decision, are durable and are not bought as often as most convenience products. A great example of a shopping product is a mobile phone where buying the wrong model is a much more expensive mistake than buying a disappointing loaf of bread.

Speciality Products describe another consumer product type. This grey area includes infrequently purchased, expensive, durable and sometimes rare items. Consumers may consider the product’s brand image when making their purchase decisions. Some examples of speciality products are gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, and branded refrigerators and dishwashers.

Poland’s Most Valuable Imported Convenience Products

The list below showcases the most valuable imported convenience products on which buyers in Poland spent the most. Items were selected at the four-digit Harmonized System tariff classification code level and are presented in descending order.

You can also peruse the greatest increases or decreases in product values from 2019 to 2020 by focusing on the percentages displayed to the right of each product name.

Medications: US$5,223,636,000 (up 3.4%)
Processed petroleum oils: $2,394,788,000 (down -35.9%)
Miscellaneous plastic items: $2,007,667,000 (up 0.7%)
Swine meat: $1,526,337,000 (down -7.1%)
Whole fish (fresh): $1,300,077,000 (down -0.5%)
Plastic packing goods, lids, caps: $1,163,181,000 (up 28.8%)
Coal, solid fuels made from coal: $1,042,330,000 (down -40%)
Chocolate, other cocoa preparations: $943,491,000 (up 13.3%)
Other organic cleaning preparations: $847,683,000 (up 13.2%)
Petroleum gas: $735,122,000 (down -22.8%)
Miscellaneous food preparations: $700,042,000 (up 1.7%)
Fish fillets, pieces: $678,198,000 (up 0.8%)
Coffee: $648,535,000 (up 12.2%)
Fresh or dried citrus fruit: $517,729,000 (up 138.2%)
Bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries: $496,664,000 (up 91.6%)
Pipe/chewing/snuff tobaccos: $482,205,000 (up 101.6%)
Perfumes, toilet waters: $426,050,000 (up 2.7%)
Cheese, curd: $422,406,000 (down -0.9%)
Alcohol (including spirits, liqueurs): $378,357,000 (up 4.9%)
Malt extract, food preparations: $373,373,000 (up 7.6%)
Wine: $367,661,000 (up 10.4%)
Bananas, plantains: $333,305,000 (up 14.4%)
Ink: $331,280,000 (up 67.8%)
Whole fish (frozen): $322,474,000 (down -2.7%)
Uncoated paper for writing/printing: $303,682,000 (down -8.9%)
Miscellaneous preserved fruits: $296,271,000 (up 22.3%)
Coffee/tea extracts, concentrates: $283,408,000 (up 4.2%)
Fruit and vegetable juices: $275,772,000 (down -3.7%)

Convenience products led by the products listed above represent the European country’s most popular import product type attracting Poland’s international spending ahead of both shopping products and speciality goods.

Non-durable consumer products are goods that are not re-used once consumed. Alcoholic beverages and bananas are examples of non-durable goods. Convenience products are uniquely non-durable consumer products.

Poland’s Most Valuable Imported Shopping Products

Below, the list highlights the most valuable imported shopping products on which buyers in Poland spent the greatest amounts. Items were selected at the four-digit Harmonized System tariff classification code level and are presented from highest to lowest total amounts.

The percentages displayed to the right of each product name reveal the highest increases or decreases in Polish spending on that specific type of shopping product from 2019 to 2020.

Cars: US$8,839,449,000 (down -18.4%)
Automobile parts/accessories: $6,968,625,000 (down -16.9%)
Phones: $5,517,229,000 (up 24.6%)
Computers, optical readers: $4,425,869,000 (up 22.2%)
Computer parts, accessories: $2,524,662,000 (up 26.7%)
Insulated wire/cable: $1,935,503,000 (up 6.8%)
Lower-voltage switches, fuses: $1,752,673,000 (up 22.1%)
Women’s clothing (not knit/crochet): $1,709,213,000 (up 34%)
Trucks: $1,647,345,000 (down -18.5%)
Tractors: $1,632,564,000 (down -3.9%)
Seats (not barber/dentist chairs): $1,621,283,000 (down -4.7%)
Video console games, table games: $1,593,480,000 (up 4.1%)
Unrecorded sound media: $1,552,193,000 (up 123%)
Hot-rolled iron/non-alloy steel items: $1,462,268,000 (down -5.4%)
Electrical converters/power units: $1,416,739,000 (up 2.6%)
Footwear (leather): $1,412,359,000 (up 2.7%)
Miscellaneous toys: $1,284,282,000 (up 15.3%)
Rubber tires (new): $1,257,053,000 (up 5.1%)
Miscellaneous iron or steel items: $1,176,766,000 (down -8.6%)
Jerseys, pullovers (knit or crochet): $1,144,340,000 (up 24.4%)
Miscellaneous furniture: $1,109,345,000 (up 11.1%)
Men’s suits (unknit/non-crochet): $1,010,125,000 (up 18.2%)
Printing machinery: $973,686,000 (up 21.6%)
T-shirts, vests (knit or crochet): $973,095,000 (up 15.1%)
Footwear (textile): $961,043,000 (up 21.6%)
Packaged insecticides, herbicides: $953,164,000 (up 11.4%)
Screws, bolts, washers, hooks, pins: $933,105,000 (up 88.2%)
Women’s clothing (knit or crochet): $835,866,000 (up 32.3%)
Trailers: $786,366,000 (down -8.8%)
Footwear (rubber or plastic): $763,221,000 (up 8%)
Miscellaneous textile items: $738,129,000 (up 159.1%)
Cases, handbags, wallets: $726,291,000 (down -8.5%)
Women’s coats (unknit/non-crochet): $698,373,000 (up 24.5%)
Vulcanized rubber items: $674,185,000 (down -7.2%)
Orthopedic appliances: $671,696,000 (down -7.3%)
Printed books, brochures: $643,340,000 (up 21.9%)
Paper containers, cellulose wadding: $596,852,000 (up 1.8%)
Paints, varnishes: $499,056,000 (down -0.1%)
Miscellaneous aluminum items: $497,459,000 (down -0.9%)
Electric lamps: $460,765,000 (up 115.6%)
Sports equipment: $450,067,000 (up 13.1%)
Prepared glues, adhesives: $435,630,000 (up 273.1%)
Aluminum foil: $429,346,000 (up 9%)
Hair preparations: $404,066,000 (up 3.8%)
Men’s coats (unknit/non-crochet): $351,288,000 (up 15.9%)
Linens: $340,776,000 (down -1%)
Felt, other non-woven garments: $339,945,000 (up 103.1%)
Women’s shirts (not knit or crochet): $336,955,000 (up 7.9%)
Shaving preparations, deodorants: $320,867,000 (up 5%)
Vulcanized rubber apparel: $313,170,000 (up 154.5%)
Soap, organic surface-active goods: $312,999,000 (up 34.1%)
Motorcycle parts/accessories: $306,399,000 (down -7.9%)
Synthetic paints, varnishes, enamels: $305,743,000 (down -0.6%)

Focusing on the scope of this analysis, shopping products is Poland’s second-most popular category behind convenience products but ahead of speciality items.

Shopping products exceeded half (53) of the overall top 100 Polish imported consumer goods.

Durable consumer products are goods like cars, refrigerators and furniture that last a relatively long time. Consumers can put durable products to use again and again. Note that shopping products and speciality products are considered as durable consumer products.

Poland’s Most Valuable Imported Speciality Products

Speciality products represent the category with the fewest entries among Poland’s imports that attracted the country’s spending on imported consumer goods during 2020.

Selected at the four-digit Harmonized System tariff classification code level, the most valuable speciality items are listed in descending order below.

The percentage to the right of each product name reveal highest increases or decreases in 2020 compared to 2019.

Electric storage batteries: US$2,464,921,000 (up 24.3%)
Household base metal mountings: $1,403,082,000 (up 0.9%)
Electric water heaters, hair dryers: $1,331,899,000 (up 7.6%)
Liquid pumps: $1,215,403,000 (up 9.3%)
Electric motors, not generating sets: $1,026,548,000 (down -6.5%)
Beauty/makeup/skin care: $1,020,515,000 (up 10%)
Refrigerators, freezers: $849,371,000 (up 11.4%)
Air conditioners: $658,735,000 (down -0.4%)
Dishwash, clean/dry/fill machines : $656,218,000 (up 4.9%)
Electromechanic appliances: $582,128,000 (up 28.2%)
Temperature-change machines: $468,971,000 (up 62.3%)
Special hand/machine tools: $410,191,000 (down -1.5%)
Vacuum cleaners: $402,613,000 (up 28%)
Fertilizer mixes: $350,607,000 (down -3.4%)
Washing machines: $328,161,000 (up 4.5%)
Liquid crystal/laser/optical tools: $318,480,000 (down -29.9%)
Electric generating sets, converters: $310,555,000 (up 95.7%)
Nitrogenous fertilizers: $294,471,000 (down -9.3%)
Potassic fertilizers: $283,409,000 (down -5%)

Like shopping products, speciality products are considered as durable consumer products.

Based on the product types identified in the sections above, 72 of Poland’s 100 highest-value consumer shopper plus speciality products are durable while the remaining 28 convenience products are classified as non-durable.

Poland’s Overall Fastest-Growing Consumer Imports

Listed below are the top 10 consumer products imported into Poland that experienced the highest percentage increases in spending from 2019 to 2020.

Prepared glues, adhesives: Up 273.1% ($435.6 million)
Miscellaneous textile items: Up 159.1% ($738.1 million)
Vulcanized rubber apparel: Up 154.5% ($313.2 million)
Fresh or dried citrus fruit: Up 138.2% ($517.7 million)
Unrecorded sound media: Up 123% ($1.6 billion)
Electric lamps: Up 115.6% ($460.9 million)
Felt or other non-woven garments: Up 103.1% ($339.9 million)
Pipe, chewing or snuff tobaccos: Up 101.6% ($482.2 million)
Electric generating sets, converters: Up 95.7% ($310.6 million)
Bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries: Up 91.6% ($496.7 million)

Among the above top 10 gainers, 6 qualify as durable goods that consumers can re-use over time. One of those durable items is a speciality product namely electric generating sets and converters. The 3 fastest-growing shopping products are prepared glues and adhesives, miscellaneous textile items, and vulcanized rubber apparel which also satisfy the technical definition for durable goods.

The fastest-growing convenience products are fresh or dried citrus fruits, tobaccos for pipe, chewing or snuff, and bread, biscuits, cakes or pastries. Consumers consider these items as non-durable products, commonly referred to as disposable goods that normally are used only once.

Poland’s Overall Worst-Declining Consumer Imports

Spending by buyers in Poland on the following 10 items decreased in value at the severest rate from 2019 to 2020.

Coal, solid fuels made from coal: Down -40% ($1 billion)
Processed petroleum oils: Down -35.9% ($2.4 billion)
Liquid crystal/laser/optical tools: Down -29.9% ($318.5 million)
Petroleum gas: Down -22.8% ($735.1 million)
Trucks: Down -18.5% ($1.6 billion)
Cars: Down -18.4% ($8.8 billion)
Automobile parts or accessories: Down -16.9% ($7 billion)
Nitrogenous fertilizers: Down -9.3% ($294.5 million)
Uncoated paper for writing/printing: Down -8.9% ($303.7 million)
Trailers: Down -8.8% ($786.4 million)

Four among Poland’s top 10 declining imports are non-durable convenience products consumed one time. These are the fuel items coal, processed petroleum oils, and uncoated paper for writing or printing.

Four among the remaining major import decliners are shopping products that normally require more time for consumers to make buying decisions. Purchases under the shopping products category are more likely to be deferred than convenience products. Examples of these shopping goods range from trucks and cars to trailers.

The two speciality product categories among the severest decliners were tools of liquid crystal, laser or optical, and nitrogenous fertilizers.

Key Suppliers by Country

This analysis reveals competitive suppliers that target Polish demand for its top 5 consumer import products.

For Poland, the biggest imported consumer product by value is cars. The 4 other leading consumer products imported into Poland are cars, automobile parts or accessories, phones including smartphones, medications, and computers.

Below, you will find major supplying countries for Poland’s imported:

Cars: Germany (26.2% of total), Czech Republic (10.4%), Japan (8.6%), Turkey (7.4%), Spain (6.2%), France (6.1%), Slovakia (5%), United Kingdom (4.5%), United States (3.6%), and Sweden (2.6%).

Automobile parts or accessories: Germany (38.8% of total), Italy (7.4%), Czech Republic (6.2%), China (6%), Spain (4.9%), France (3.9%), Romania (3.6%), Slovakia (2.7%), Sweden (2.7%), and Turkey (also 2.7%).

Phones: China (49% of total), Vietnam (14.8%), Germany (9.8%), Slovakia (4.2%), Netherlands (2.7%), Malaysia (2%), Taiwan (1.6%), Czech Republic (1.5%), South Korea (1.2%), and United States (also 1.2%).

Medications: Germany (19.7% of total), France (9.4%), Switzerland (7.4%), Italy (6.2%), Ireland (5.8%), United Kingdom (5.6%), Netherlands (5.5%), Hungary (4.7%), Slovenia (3.9%), and United States (2.9%).

Computers: China (48.8% of total), Netherlands (12.3%), Germany (12.2%), Thailand (4.3%), Taiwan (2.4%), Slovakia (2.2%), United Kingdom (2%), Philippines (1.7%), Ireland (1.6%), and Czech Republic (also 1.6%).

References

Independent insights and analysis presented in this article are based on researched facts and statistics sourced from the following educational portals.

BoyceWire, Consumer Goods Definition.

Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Poland Economy.

International Trade Centre, Trade Map.

Investopedia, Consumer Goods, Consumer Staples Definition, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Richest Country Reports, Top 100 Richest Countries by GDP.

Trading Economics, Poland Consumer Spending.

Wikipedia, List of largest consumer markets, Poland, Geography of Poland, Languages of Poland

World’s Top Exports, Poland’s Top 10 Imports.