Comparative Analysis of the Competitiveness of Agriculture and Agri-food Trade in Visegrad Group Countries under the European Union Frameworks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53098/wir.2025.2.207/03Keywords:
Visegrad Group, agriculture, competitiveness, intra-community tradeAbstract
The study aimed to assess the competitiveness of agriculture and agri-food trade in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries during their European Union (EU) membership. Using data from Eurostat and the Agri-food Data Portal, labour productivity in agriculture and competitive position in agri-food trade within the EU internal market were analysed. In each V4 country, the labour productivity indicator was lower than the EU-27 average; however, Poland and Hungary had the least favourable scores. Of the four countries surveyed, Czechia recorded the highest productivity and Poland the lowest, influenced by the agrarian structure and level of employment in agriculture. However, it was positive that the dynamics of labour productivity change in all V4 countries were higher than the EU average. The research also showed that accession of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to the EU contributed to an increase in agri-food exports and imports in all analysed countries. Poland has a comparative advantage and is export-specialised in the food and live animals (SITC 0 commodity group) and beverages and tobacco products (SITC 1 commodity group), but not in the animal and vegetable oils, fats, and waxes (SITC 4 commodity group). In the SITC4 commodity group, Hungary performed best, having both a comparative advantage and export specialisation in this area. Slovakia is the worst performer compared to the other countries surveyed, having neither a comparative advantage nor export specialisation in any of the analysed commodity groups.
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