Quantitative and qualitative assessments of agri-food trade trends post accession – Romanias case

Abstract

The paper presents the main results of a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of Romanias agriculture external performances on the EU-27 market after the accession. The analysis comprise trends and structure of trade flows, determinants of the net trade and relative unit value indices measured on traded products aggregated by chapters/ sections of the Combined Nomenclature. The empirical results indicate changes in agrifood competitiveness, commercial disadvantages compared to EU products, dependence on imports of processed products and of animal origin, the low competitiveness of the processing sector being the main disadvantage in achieving higher revenue from exports. The general outcome underlines a decrease of domestic performance facing a growing external competitiveness, with a strong impact both on the food industry that have to reshape its strategies for going on the market and on the agricultural sector where changes imposed by adoption of CAP increase the pressures on farmers facing the market developments.