Agrarian foreign trade of the Czech Republic in the period of 2004–2008, competitiveness of commodities

Abstract

The paper deals with agrarian foreign trade (AFT) of the Czech Republic during the period of 2004–2008. Distinct changes in the trade volume, but also changes in the net export structure were observed. The export is being assisted with a much larger trading area without customs restrictions but it is also exposed to a much tougher competition. A methodology that makes it possible to evaluate the competitiveness of individual commodities is described in the first part. A sequence of individual items from a total list of basic food goods was analyzed using chosen indicators – Balass indicator RCA (Revealed Comparative Advantage) as well as the Michaely index MI that shows a specific degree of specialization for export. In the Results section, attention is firstly focused on the year 2004. The values of export and import for 24 items of basic food commodities are summarised, and the most important items in respect of the share in total export are selected. Analogical output was acquired for the year 2008. The values of RCA and MI indicators are then itemised, and a sequence is determined for the highest values for the commodities able to compete that shows the specific degree of specialization for export.

Keywords

• agrarian foreign trade
• foreign trade
• competitiveness
• competitive advantage
• Balass RCA indicator
• Michaely index