Central European and the Balkan Countries (CEBC) have seen major changes in their agriculture and food markets in recent decades, as under the communist regime they were heavily subsidised by the state and protected by tariffs and other barriers. In the run up to accession, de-regulation and free trade agreements brought changes in food trade flows.
The study, to be published in the October issue of the journal Food Policy, looked at agrofood trade development and advantages between the EU and eight CEBCs: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, which entered the EU in 2004; Bulgaria and Romania, which entered in 2007; and Croatia, which remains outside the EU.
They found considerable differences in competitiveness in different food products and for different countries. Notably, Hungary and Bulgaria moved from trade surplus to trade deficit.
Poland, on the other hand, improved from trade deficit to surplus – and is seen to have benefited the most from open trade with the EU-15 overall.
For Romania, the situation is less stable, varying year-on-year.
Imports
As more agrofood products have become available in the CEBC countries, creating structural adjustments and readjustments in the sector. The result has been “creating pressure for quality and competitiveness improvements, yet also contributing to product varieties on the CEBC markets for consumers”.
Exports
In terms of exports to the previous EU-15 countries, the CEBC-8 fared best with raw agricultural commodities. Export advantages were also seen for processed intermediaries to be used as ingredients in the larger market.
However only Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania were seen to have performed well in exports of consumer-ready food. Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania did well in horticultural products.
“These differences in the results can be explained by differences in natural factor endowments and agricultural structures in production of the bulk commodities, climatic conditions, lower labour input cost for horticultural products, improvements in food processing and food supply marketing chains for consumer-ready foods and for processed intermediaries,” wrote the study authors.
Source
Food Policy 34 (2009) 417-425
DOI: 10.1016.j.foodpol.2009.01.003
“Agro-food trade competitiveness of Central European and Balkan countries”
Authors: Bojnec, S; Ferto, I