Prevalence of key developments in trade of agro-food in the new member states of the European Union

The ten new member states (NMS- 10) of the European Union (EU) have contributed to an enhancement in agro- food trade among cur rent EU- 25 members. Intra- industry trade (IIT) represents only minor part of NMS- 10 trade in agro- food products. Their trade in agro- food products is specialised to different countries in terms of economic distance, factor endowments and/or degree of competitiveness of their agro- food sectors. The borderless EU markets are likely to influence the increase of IIT with implications for the EU trade policy, since more than one- third of agro- food trade in the current EU- 25 members is represented by NMS- 10.