Selected EU Countries Crop Trade Competitiveness from the Perspective of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The question of the sources of agricultural competitiveness is widely discussed on the farm and sectoral levels in the European Union. This paper assesses the competitiveness of the plant production using the combination of trade measures and strategic management measures in the selected European countries related to the Czech Republic. Thus, the paper evaluates and identifies the sources of competitiveness of plant production. In the case of Belgium and the Netherlands, labour and capital factors have a significant influence on production; in the case of the new member states, these factors are less important, and, conversely, market competitiveness factors are more crucial. The continuous convergence process between Belgium and the Netherlands is illustrated. The divergence between the Netherlands and the rest of the countries is also visible. There is a stable connection between the Czech Republic and Austria, France, and Slovakia. It can be mentioned that there is no statistically significant difference in the comparative advantage between 2005 and 2019, except in the case of France. Analysing sources of competitiveness among the countries of interest is a possible tool for the future direction of trade policies.

Keywords

• competitiveness indicators
• export competitiveness
• comparative advantage
• agriculture and agri-food sectors
• cluster analysis
• sources of competitiveness