THE COMPETITIVENESS OF AGRICULTURE IN BULGARIA AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC VIS-À-VIS THE EUROPEAN UNION. (CEEC and EU Agricultural Competitiveness)

This paper considers the competitiveness of agricultural production in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic compared to (i) international markets and (ii) EU. Competitiveness was measured in terms of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and domestic resource cost (DRC) ratios, adjusted for bilateral analysis with the EU. The DRC estimations indicate that Czech and Bulgarian cereal producers were competitive at world market prices as well as at the EU prices. However, they did not show RCA in trade with the EU, partially due to trade restrictions. Czech livestock production was not competitive on the world market. The same was true for Bulgaria with the exception of pork.