Agri-food Exports in the Enlarged European Union

Th is paper explores the agri-food export dynamics in the New Member States and the Old Member States of the European Union during the enlargement process. Th e analysis relies on two diff erent approaches based on the similarity and the sophistication indices of exported goods using a disaggregation at 95 items. Th e analysis shows that diff erent and somehow divergent paths are in place. On the one side, the Czech Republic and Poland are involved in a quality catching up process and increase their competitiveness. On the other side, Bulgaria and Romania seem to be still trapped in the low-quality segment of the agri-food market with a decreasing competitiveness performance in the richest segment of the European market.