AGRI-FOOD TRADE INTENSITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SCENARIO

Abstract

In recent years, a political, economic, commercial, social and cultural dialogue get intensified among the Mediterranean countries. In particular, the establishment in 2008 of the Union for the Mediterranean, under the impulse of the French Presidency, represents the last act of the Euro-Mediterranean integration process, that binds more strongly the EU and Mediterranean countries, in particular those of the Southern and Eastern shores. The agriculture is an economic activity of great interest in the Mediterranean area due to the weight of employment and the contribution to the richness it brings to certain countries. In this work we analyze the intensity of agri-food trade among the EU Mediterranean states (Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia) and the partner countries of the Southern and Eastern shores by using the Traistaru index, widely used in literature. All agri-food products (24 two-digit classes of the harmonized system) are examined during a 15-years period from the Barcelona Process (1996 to 2010). The results show, even if empirically, that some factors affect on the intensity of bilateral trade, in particular the geographic proximity, and moreover that some products are more sensitive on specific markets, highlighting a certain competitiveness among Mediterranean countries.