CHANGES IN HUNGARIAN AGRI-FOOD TRADE DURING 20 YEARS OF EU MEMBERSHIP

JÁMBOR, ATTILA – VÁSÁRY, MIKLÓS

Keywords: Keywords: accession to the EU, agricultural trade, impacts, challenges. JEL code: Q17

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The article analyses the changing patterns of Hungarian agricultural trade twenty years after accession. The analysis is carried out using descriptive statistics and the comparative advantage methodology for the period 2001-2023. Descriptive statistics show that domestic agricultural trade is rather concentrated both by target markets and by product groups. The weight of the European Union in domestic agricultural trade has increased substantially, both on the export and import side, due to the revival of agricultural trade relations between Eastern and Central Europe.
After accession, the degree of comparative advantage clearly declined according to the Balassa indices, while around half of the product groups managed to maintain their competitive position in the single market. The studies based on the product map also showed that the structure of domestic agricultural trade is becoming more and more homogeneous.
The results highlight the stability of the structure of domestic agricultural trade, which is unfavourable for the Hungarian agriculture and food industry in the long term. Even after 20 years, the structural deficiencies in agricultural trade have not been remedied and seem to have tended to maintain the status quo. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53079/GAZDALKODAS.69.5.t.pp_400-410