Macroeconomic Performance and International Competitiveness of the Agro-food Sectors in the EU Countries: Implications for the Future CAP

The study is aimed at comparison of macroeconomic performance of agro-food sectors in the national economies of the EU countries and competitiveness of these sectors reflected by international trade specialization. To assess macroeconomic performance of the agro-food sectors we used data on employment, gross value added and output extracted from the Eurostat Database. To evaluate international competitiveness of the analyzed sectors revealed comparative advantage index (RCA) and revealed competitiveness index (RC) were calculated using the WTO database on exports and imports of agricultural products and food. Both relative macroeconomic performance and international competitiveness of the agro-food sectors differ considerably among the EU member state countries but the relationship between them is not very clear. However, it seems that as far as international competitiveness is concerned the CAP should be more oriented towards improving economic efficiency of the agro-food sectors, especially in the countries where the RC index is low.