This study examines the dynamics and potential of agri-food trade between the Visegrad Four (V4) countries and Taiwan, using this regional case to highlight broader opportunities for EU-Taiwan economic engagement. While the V4 countries have not historically been major agri-food trading partners with Taiwan, the analysis reveals untapped trade potential supported by revealed comparative advantages and trade complementarity. These findings suggest that significant opportunities exist even for EU Member States with limited previous agri-food trade with Taiwan. At the same time, the study identifies several challenges - ranging from institutional and regulatory barriers to shifting global market dynamics - that have constrained V4-Taiwan trade flows over time. By analyzing these factors, the study informs policymakers about the types of strategic interventions needed to enhance agri-food trade cooperation. The results underscore the value of agri-food trade as a promising but underutilized segment in EU-Taiwan relations. While the evidence supports the long-term case for an EU-Taiwan trade agreement, the current political context and intra-EU diversity suggests that strengthening bilateral relationships between individual Visegrad countries and Taiwan may be a more feasible and effective short-term strategy to unlock mutual trade benefits. Cette & eacute;tude examine la dynamique et le potentiel du commerce agroalimentaire entre les pays du groupe de Visegr & aacute;d (V4) et Ta & iuml;wan, en s'appuyant sur ce cas r & eacute;gional pour mettre en lumi & egrave;re des opportunit & eacute;s plus larges de coop & eacute;ration & eacute;conomique entre l'Union europ & eacute;enne (UE) et Ta & iuml;wan. Si les pays du V4 n'ont historiquement pas & eacute;t & eacute; des partenaires commerciaux agroalimentaires majeurs pour Ta & iuml;wan, l'analyse r & eacute;v & egrave;le un potentiel commercial inexploit & eacute;, soutenu par des avantages comparatifs r & eacute;v & eacute;l & eacute;s et une compl & eacute;mentarit & eacute; commerciale. Ces r & eacute;sultats sugg & egrave;rent que des opportunit & eacute;s importantes existent, m & ecirc;me pour les & Eacute;tats membres de l'UE dont les & eacute;changes agroalimentaires avec Ta & iuml;wan & eacute;taient jusqu'alors limit & eacute;s. Parall & egrave;lement, l'& eacute;tude identifie plusieurs d & eacute;fis - allant des barri & egrave;res institutionnelles et r & eacute;glementaires & agrave; l'& eacute;volution de la dynamique des march & eacute;s mondiaux - qui ont frein & eacute; les flux commerciaux entre le V4 et Ta & iuml;wan au fil du temps. En analysant ces facteurs, l'& eacute;tude & eacute;claire les d & eacute;cideurs de la politique sur les types d'interventions strat & eacute;giques n & eacute;cessaires pour renforcer la coop & eacute;ration commerciale agroalimentaire. Les r & eacute;sultats soulignent l'importance du commerce agroalimentaire comme segment prometteur mais sous-exploit & eacute; des relations entre l'UE et Ta & iuml;wan. Bien que les & eacute;l & eacute;ments probants soutiennent la conclusion d'un accord commercial UE-Ta & iuml;wan & agrave; long terme, le contexte politique actuel et la diversit & eacute; au sein de l'UE sugg & egrave;rent que le renforcement des relations bilat & eacute;rales entre les diff & eacute;rents pays de Visegrad et Ta & iuml;wan pourrait constituer une strat & eacute;gie & agrave; court terme plus r & eacute;alisable et efficace pour d & eacute;gager des avantages commerciaux mutuels. Diese Studie untersucht die Dynamik und das Potenzial des Agrar- und Lebensmittelhandels zwischen den Visegrad-4-L & auml;ndern (V4) und Taiwan. Anhand dieses regionalen Falls werden die allgemeinen Chancen f & uuml;r eine wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen der EU und Taiwan aufgezeigt. Obwohl die V4-L & auml;nder in der Vergangenheit keine wichtigen Handelspartner Taiwans im Bereich Agrar- und Lebensmittel waren, zeigt die Analyse ein ungenutztes Handelspotenzial auf, das durch offensichtliche komparative Vorteile und Komplementarit & auml;t im Handel gest & uuml;tzt wird. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass selbst f & uuml;r EU-Mitgliedstaaten, die bisher nur in begrenztem Umfang Agrar- und Lebensmittelhandel mit Taiwan betrieben haben, erhebliche Chancen bestehen. Gleichzeitig identifiziert die Studie mehrere Herausforderungen - von institutionellen und regulatorischen Hindernissen bis hin zu sich ver & auml;ndernden globalen Marktdynamiken -, die den Handel zwischen den V4-L & auml;ndern und Taiwan im Laufe der Zeit eingeschr & auml;nkt haben. Durch die Analyse dieser Faktoren informiert die Studie politische Entscheidungstr & auml;ger & uuml;ber die Arten strategischer Ma ss nahmen, die zur Verbesserung der Zusammenarbeit im Agrar- und Lebensmittelhandel erforderlich sind. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen den Wert des Agrar- und Lebensmittelhandels als vielversprechendes, aber unzureichend genutztes Segment in den Beziehungen zwischen der EU und Taiwan. W & auml;hrend die Fakten f & uuml;r ein langfristiges Handelsabkommen zwischen der EU und Taiwan sprechen, deuten der aktuelle politische Kontext und die Vielfalt innerhalb der EU darauf hin, dass die St & auml;rkung der bilateralen Beziehungen zwischen einzelnen Visegrad-L & auml;ndern und Taiwan eine realistischere und effektivere kurzfristige Strategie sein k & ouml;nnte, um gegenseitige Handelsvorteile zu erschlie ss en.

This study examines consumer behaviour related to the purchase of local food products in the Banja Luka area, with a focus on the role of socio-demographic characteristics, purchasing power, and key attitudinal factors such as trust, perceived quality, and support for local producers. The research is based on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire using the CAWI method, with a sample of 150 respondents. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied. The results indicate that local food products are characterized by a high level of consumer trust, with the majority of respondents perceiving them as higher quality compared to imported alternatives. Supporting local producers and trust in producers emerge as the most important factors influencing purchasing decisions, while price is of relatively lower importance. Statistically significant differences were observed across age and income groups, with older and higher-income respondents showing stronger preferences for local products. The analysis also reveals a strong positive relationship between purchasing power and food purchasing behaviour, highlighting the importance of economic capacity as a key determinant of actual consumption. Cluster analysis identified three distinct product groups, with traditional and minimally processed products showing the highest levels of consumer trust and loyalty, while processed products are less associated with local origin. The findings suggest that, despite favourable consumer attitudes, the development of local food markets in Bosnia and Herzegovina depends on improving the economic accessibility of local products and strengthening direct links between producers and consumers.

This paper aims to assess how storage capacity affects the integration of regional foods into school catering, drawing on empirical evidence from the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on 216 valid responses (41.5% of the targeted population) gathered via a questionnaire distributed electronically to representatives of school canteens in the region. The analysis examines two key variables: perception of sufficiency of storage facilities in school kitchens and the willingness of school canteens to increase the share of local food in students' meals in the future, evaluated using the chi-square test of independence. The calculated test criterion reaches 7.386, which exceeds the critical values for both the 5% significance level (3.84) and the stricter 1% significance level (6.635). The strength of this association was quantified by Cramér's V coefficient, which is recorded at 0.185. This indicates a detectible but weak link between adequate storage capacity and the willingness of school canteens to integrate regional foods into their operations. These results suggest that while physical infrastructure and storage facilities are important factors for shortening food supply chains in the South Moravian Region, they are not the sole determinants; however, modernising and expanding storage capacities appear to be a vital step toward the successful implementation of local foods in school catering in the South Moravian Region.

The article assesses the dynamic of Czechia’s agri-food intra-industry trade (IIT) with other EU countries. Methods such as Grubel-Lloyd index, Greenaway, Hine and Milner method, and Fontagné and Freudenberg method were applied using EUROSTAT bilateral trade data at 6-digit HS code from 1999 to 2022. Although the inter-industry trade still prevails in the structure of Czechia’s agri-food trade, the IIT intensity has increased. Nonetheless, the increase started to slow down and stopped in the last decade. The IIT is mostly vertical in nature and significant variations across specific agri-food sectors exist. Increased intensity of IIT indicates potentially positive welfare effects when compared to inter-industry trade and advocates the integration into the economic structures of the Single European Market. Findings inform policymakers in countries aspiring to EU membership when assessing the potential nature of the trade dynamic during participation in the Single European Market.

The article interrogates the shape, dynamic, and fragility of revealed comparative advantages of 46 agrifood products traded by Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay in the period 1995-2020 using normalized revealed comparative index and summary statistics, stochastic kernels, Galtonian regression, Markov chains, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The analysis reveals the agri-food flagship products and the agrifood trade of these countries has formed mainly around these flagship products. The results support the argument that changes in distribution of comparative advantages in agri-food trade underwent an increase in specialization in these countries, especially in the period from the beginning of millennia until about period slightly after the Great Recession. The results also indicate slight convergence in the change in agri-food comparative advantages in these three countries, as well as the increased complexity of agri-food comparative advantages in Argentina and Paraguay at the end of the period under scrutiny. Despite these variations and differences among countries under scrutiny the distribution of comparative advantages remains stable and persistent. Given this evidence, we conclude that these countries will continue to develop their agriculture-led growth economic model and these flagship products will play an important role in the overall agri-food export structures of these countries in the future.

This paper investigates the potential negative impact of the European Union's (EU) agri-food import practices on the competitiveness of South Africa's agricultural sector by applying the Constant Market Share (CMS) model to a 20-year dataset in the context of trade liberalisation and the slowdown in global value chain activity on agri-food trade. This study is the first to utilise the CMS model over an extended period to assess the competitiveness of South African agri-food exports to the EU. We categorise agri-food products into bulk commodities, processed intermediate goods, horticultural products, and consumer-ready goods. While South African agri-food exports responded to changes in EU market demand, they were concentrated in slower-growing markets and commodities with below-average growth rates. Although competitive in certain niches, South African agri-food exports were generally not competitive over the long term. The decline in the EU's agri-food imports from South Africa, despite trade agreements, suggests a persistent negative trend without strategic intervention. We recommend that South Africa focus on exporting high-demand commodities to rapidly growing EU markets and invest in priority areas to enhance competitiveness.

The aim of the article is to evaluate the position in global value chains (GVCs) of food processing industries in the Visegrad countries (V4; Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia) between 1995 and 2018. To identify the intensity and forms of integration in GVC of these industries in each country and to compare it to the other V4 countries, we employed complex methods to measure the importance of foreign demand, (backward and forward) participation and position in GVCs, the territorial context of integration, and shifting patterns of the integration into GVCs using data from the TiVA database. Our findings revealed variations in the integration of food processing industries in GVCs in the V4 countries. Common characteristics and trends were observed (e.g., increasing participation) until the Great Recession before stalling, increasing integration into European value chains, and absorption of foreign value added mostly from services industries. These trends are consistent with findings from previous studies. A significant contribution of this study is that it reveals how food exports from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are mostly linked to increased GVC participation. Notably, food processing industries in Hungary and Slovakia have continued to increase their participation in GVCs even after the Great Recession. Given the evidence of beneficial economic outcomes from increased participation in GVCs, this implies that the food processing industries in Hungary and Slovakia will become more competitive. Food industries in Poland and Hungary are positioning themselves relatively more downstream in the GVCs, while shifts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are increasingly upstream. Given evidence of beneficial economic outcomes from increased participation in GVCs being more downstream in the GVCs, the V4 countries will need to evaluate how their trajectories may impact the future wellbeing of businesses and employees working in these industries.

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a model promoted among farmers in many countries. This model is popularised as an opportunity to increase the economic efficiency. However, the research results found in the literature are ambiguous. This study therefore aims to assess the impact of participation in short food supply chains on the productivity and efficiency of farms. Poland and the Czech Republic are taken as examples of countries with a contrasting agrarian structure and different size classes of farms are investigated. Primary data come from semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted among 375 producers divided into two groups - participating and not participating in SFSCs. The indices of productivity and non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) were applied to assess differences in efficiency for two groups mentioned above. It was demonstrated that in Poland small farms participating in SFSC achieve higher production efficiency than farms not participating in SFSC.

The aim of the article is to interrogate comparative advantage of agrarian and food processing sectors in the context of the agri-food global value chains in particular countries in the Central and Eastern Europe using gross trade and value-added trade data from TiVA database. The Normalized revealed comparative advantage index (NRCA) was applied to analyze comparative (dis)advantage of agrarian and food processing sectors from 1995 to 2020. The article contributes twofold: First, NRCA pairs of indices calculated using gross trade and value-added trade data are mostly consistent. The analysis identifies for what areas and countries there is a discrepancy; second, it reveals comparative advantage of agrarian and food processing sectors in each country separately. It indicates different trajectories of development among countries in the Central and Eastern Europe. These results are complementary to the results of studies that evaluated comparative advantages on the product basis.

The article interrogates the complementarity of agrarian trade between the Czech Republic and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia applying the Trade Complementarity Index.Analyzing the last decade, the results indicate two-way complementarity of agrarian trade between the Czech Republic and North Makedonia and Montenegro.Due to the changes in the exports and import structure during the period under scrutiny, Serbia and Albania have also become complementary to the agrarian trade of the Czech Republic and vice versa.The Czech Republic's agrarian exports are also complementary to Bosnia and Herzegovina's agrarian imports.Generally, the results support the ongoing liberalization process between the EU and the Western Balkans and the rationale for the cooperation of the Czech Republic with Western Balkan countries and taking advantage of existing economic resources in the segment of agrarian products.However, results also indicate existing barriers to developing more intensive agrarian trade between the Czech Republic and countries of the Western Balkans.

This study explores the intensity of food trade among the Western Balkan (WB) countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) during periods of crisis, emphasizing the impact of COVID-19 and the Ukrainian-Russian conflict on regional trade dynamics. The impact of this crisis was measured over three analyzed years: 2018, representing a reference year for comparison, then 2020 as the year affected by COVID-19, and 2022, being affected by the pandemic as well as the Ukrainian-Russian crisis. All data collected are from the “Trade Statistics for International Business Development Database”. Conclusions about the intensity of exchange of agricultural and food products within the WB region were obtained by calculating Regional Intensity of Trade of Export (RITE) and Regional Intensity of Trade of Import (RITI). Higher values than 1 indicate intensity in trade or dominance of trade in specific products with a particular region compared with the trade with the world. In the case of trade among the WB countries, the COVID-19 crisis did not affect the increase in trade volume. However, there was an increase in intra-regional trade by about 50% when compared with 2020 and 2022. The RITE coefficients for all countries except Albania were greater than 1, indicating intensified export of agricultural and food products to the WB region compared with their global export. The RITI index is very important in crisis, as it somewhat answers the question of who "feeds" the country during crises. All WB countries had the RITI indices greater than 1, indicating a higher intensity of food imports from the region compared with the world. According to this research, the RIT coefficients measured generally declined in the years of crises, meaning that the countries shifted their export focus to other regions but still the most significant foreign and intense trade partners in agricultural and food products were countries from the region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the functioning of the entire economy. However, the strength of the impact was not uniform across sectors, with some affected more severely and others only slightly. Due to its importance, agribusiness is of particular interest. Therefore, the aim of the publication is to assess the economic and financial condition of farms in Poland and Czechia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered the 2017-2021 period. The economic and financial condition was established on the basis of the following volumes and values of indicators: total output, prices of products and inputs, export and import volumes, productivity, profitability and debt ratios. The study includes data from national statistics and the FADN agricultural accounting system and concerns two EU countries, mentioned above. Chain indices were used to show trends, while the financial analysis includes selected productivity, profitability, and debt ratios. Calculations were carried out for average values of farms and divided into economic size classes. The results indicate that the agricultural sector was not particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in terms of changes in output, which was mainly influenced by weather factors. What did change were the higher prices of agricultural raw materials and inputs (fertilizers, fuels, feed) in 2021. In Poland the growth dynamics of the prices of sold products surpassed that of inputs, in Czechia the proportions were reversed. This translated into the values of financial indicators. In general, they improved in Poland, while in Czechia 2021 turned out to be less favourable financially. Comparing different economic classes, in Poland the results for small farms were relatively good, in Czechia the larger entities fared better under the crisis conditions.

The aim of this study was to identify the long-term tendencies regarding the land use in farms of different sizes in Poland and Czechia, with special focus on small-scale farms. The article answers the question about functioning of small farms in Poland and Czechia, as they represent different structures of land use among farms. On the one hand, the land fragmentation in Poland, and on the other hand, domination of large farms in Czechia, with a lower share of small farms. To achieve the aim, the study used data from (2005, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2020) and selected data for recent years from the World Bank database. In the period under analysis, it can be observed that there is a significant decline in the number of small farms both in Poland and Czechia, while the decrease in utilized agricultural area was smaller. Hence, the average area of farm increased which helped them to improve the land productivity, while increasing the standard output per hectare of utilized agricultural area. The analysis showed that there are two different models of the position of small farms in the Polish and Czech agricultural sectors, however, some positive and desired tendencies occur in both systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the functioning of the entire economy.However, the strength of the impact was not uniform across sectors, with some affected more severely and others only slightly.Due to its importance, agribusiness is of particular interest.Therefore, the aim of the publication is to assess the economic and financial condition of farms in Poland and Czechia during the COVID-19 pandemic.The study covered the 2017-2021 period.

We conducted a quantitative ex post analysis of the competitiveness of the Czech Republic's agrifood exports to other European Union (EU) Member States between 2002 and 2020, using the constant market share (CMS) methodology. The application of this methodology to Czech agrifood exports is novel, as it allows for analysing the export competitiveness variation and its components. Although the findings are consistent with those of previous studies in which the investigators used alternative methodological approaches, we make three contributions to the existing literature. Firstly, the Czech Republic experienced an overall increase in its competitiveness in agrifood exports between 2002 and 2020. Secondly, the high territorial specialisation of Czech agrifood exports to other EU Member States, combined with a general slowdown in the growth of EU markets, has had a significant effect on the growth dynamics of the country's agricultural exports. Thirdly, there is a problem with the specialisation profile of Czech agrifood exports in terms of commodity and territorial structure. The current composition does not allow the Czech Republic to reach its full potential for agrifood exports. These findings will help industrial, agricultural and trade policymakers to assess the nature of liberalisation and transformation of the Czech Republic's agricultural sectors, with a view to improving or designing structures and instruments for the promotion of agrifood exports.

This paper assesses the change in the competitiveness of the Czech white sugar export to the Austrian market and compares it with other relevant importers to this market. For this purpose, Constant market share analysis was used, which enables the decomposition of trade flows and the identification of potential effects shaping these flows. Despite the changes of the sugar value chain in the Czech Republic, which was significantly affected by changes in the local business environment, the accession to the EU and the related application of the CAP, sugar production in the Czech Republic stabilized and became more efficient. The EU common market has gained importance and the vast majority of Czech sugar export goes to neighboring countries (especially to Austria). Based on the results of analyses, the Czech sugar exports have proven to be in a strong position on the Austrian market. In the monitored period, the competitiveness of Czech sugar exports on the Austrian market strengthened, despite the negative impact of structural factors; the overall competitive position also strengthened in comparison with Germany, Slovakia and Hungary (i.e. countries that are mainly pro-filed in the Austrian sugar import structure). Despite the positive conclusions of the above findings, the authors also discuss the need to interpret these findings in the context of the ongoing process of vertical division of labor in value chains.

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) came into force in August 2020 and its main purpose is the substantial reduction of trade barriers and tariffs between the partners. The agreement should also open the door to Czech exports to Vietnam. This article evaluates the agri-food trade between the Czech Republic and Vietnam in the context of this EVFTA. The authors use a battery of methods and procedures to identify potential benefits and risks for the agri-food sector in the Czech Republic and to identify possible dynamics in Czech agri-food exports to Vietnam. The results suggest that the EVFTA between European Union and Vietnam poses no risk to the agri-food sector in the Czech Republic. The agri-food export structures of both countries are complementary rather than competitive. The agreement creates improved export opportunities for some of the agri-food sectors in the Czech Republic, but not to the extent of all tariff reductions included in the agreement.