Investigating export performance and competitiveness of Balkan and eastern European fisheries sector

As foreign markets tend to be more diverse and competitive, export performance of fisheries exporting sector has been gaining increasing attention by policy makers, business managers and marketing researchers. Consequently, the aim of this paper is the investigation of export performance and competitiveness in fisheries sector among Balkan and Eastern European countries. Using Eurostat data, the export trade is described for each country, regarding exports of fisheries products in the market of EU - 27. In specific, Greece presents a significant export trade in fresh or chilled Gilt-head sea bream, while Bulgaria in frozen sprats and snails (live, fresh, chilled, frozen, salted dried with or no shell). Czech Republic exports mainly live carp, while Hungary portrays a significant export trade in live freshwater fish. Finally, Poland shows a significant export trade in smoked fillets of pacific salmon, while Slovenia in fresh or chilled fillets of freshwater fish. The estimated Revealed Competitive Advantage (RCA) indices reveal a wide range of competitiveness among the countries examined. Therefore, the results of this study could help policy makers to probably reallocate the natural resources, reinforcing the national production activities in those species and potentially to develop a national strategic plan for the export marketing of the fisheries products involved.