Comparative advantages of the Czech agrarian foreign trade in relation to the EU and third countries

Abstract

The Czech agrarian trade represents a variable which has been developing in a very dynamic manner over time. In the time period of 2000–2010 alone, the value of its turnover grew up from about USD 2.7 billion to about USD 11.4 billion. In the course of time, the Czech agrarian foreign trade has gradually adjusted its territorial as well as commodity structure. As regards the importance of trading partners, Member States of the European Union have unequivocally come to the fore. Accession of CR to the EU has also left its marks on the existing form of the commodity structure of realized exports and imports alike, while especially the export structure has still been shaping in a significant manner. The paper deals with issues related to development of the Czech agrarian foreign trade with the aim to identify its comparative advantages in the area of the commodity and territorial structure both in relation to the global market (the market of third countries outside the EU) and in relation to the EU27 countries. Following are the outcomes of the paper conclusions. Although the Czech agrarian trade as the whole does not have any comparative advantages both with respect to the market of the EU27 countries and with respect to third countries (the global market), its individual aggregations are able to win through and gain comparative advantages, especially with respect to individual Member States of the EU. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that in 2010, 190 (i.e. nearly one half) out of 390 studied export flows realized to 26 Member States of the EU were competitive. The comparative advantages are more or less evenly distributed among the new and old Member States of the EU. As regards third countries, it may be stated that the Czech agrarian export has comparative advantages only to a significantly limited scope.