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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the competitive performance of the EU
countries for the prepared swine meat sector during the period 1990- 2003. This sector has been
chosen for the role that traditional products play in most EU countries. To assess
competitiveness, the analysis evaluates several trade indices to compare the trends over the last
fifteen years: Revealed Comparative Advantage, the Vollrath indices, Net Export Index, and
Grübel - Lloyd index. The data source was the Eurostat data base, considering intra - EU export and
import data referred to 17 sub- sectors with 8 digit codes. Moreover, cluster analysis has been
applied to highlight groups of countries with similar features. Good competitive performance in
the prepared swine meat sector is observed in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Austria, all of which were
found to be specialised in the sector and export oriented. Germany and France show positive
competitive performance, but a high level of intra - industry trade and low specialisation is also
revealed. Denmark is characterized by negative dynamics of competitiveness even though there
are high exports in the sector; a similar trend is observed in Belgium and the Netherlands. The
rest of the countries show weak competitiveness for the analysed sector. Moreover, the type of
exported product varies greatly: Italy and Spain export dried or smoked swine meat, whereas
Germany and Denmark export mainly sausages and preserved swine meat.