Abstract:
In the period of European integration and globalisation processes, one of the factors that determine the position and development of a region is its ability to sell commodities on foreign markets. Hence a state's foreign trade in a regional approach is a highly significant issue. The internal distribution of foreign trade of individual states, including Poland, is uneven in terms of the volume of the exchange of goods and its structure. This unevenness can also be observed in Poland's trade with the Visegrad Group countries, i.e. the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
As of the end of 2015, the countries of the Visegrad Group accounted for ca. 12% of Polish exports and 7% of Polish imports. The Czech Republic belongs to Poland's most important trade partners, occupying 3rd place in its export and 7th in its import. Hungary is 9th and Slovakia 11th in terms of their share of Polish export (according to the Central Statistical Office). In turn, Poland is the 3rd biggest recipient of goods from the Czech Republic and the 3rd biggest supplier of goods to this country (according to Český statistický úřad). It occupies 3rd place in Slovakia's export and 5th in its import (according to Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky), as well as 3rd place in Hungary's import and 9th in its export (according to Központi Statisztikai Hivatal).
The goal of this paper is to determine differences in the volume and structure of the exchange of goods of Polish regions (voivodeships) with the Visegrad Group countries in the years 1999-2012. Also examined is the role those countries played in the export and import of individual regions over the study period. The structure of goods sold is significant in terms of a region's export competitiveness. An economy producing and selling highly processed and technologically advanced commodities is capable of meeting the requirements of international competitiveness and join intra-branch trade. Hence an assessment will also be made of the level of intra-branch and inter-branch specialisation, and of the tendencies of change in the trade of Polish regions with the Visegrad Group countries. An analysis of this kind can be conducted on the basis of materials made accessible by the Analytical Centre of Customs Administration, the Foreign Trade Data Centre, and the Central Statistical Office in Warsaw.
Keywords: exchange of goods, region (voivodeship), Poland, Visegrad Group
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