Tag: Geographical Indications

In order to understand the global importance of foods with Geographical Indications (GIs), it is essential to get an overview of the market size for such products. In spite of the relative importance of GI policy in EU trade agreements, there are only very limited data available on the actual market size for GI labelled products. Against this background this paper collects all the available data that provides estimates of the market size for GI foods, analysing the available datasets and reports of the European Commission and conducting a systematic literature review on the academic papers related to this topic. Based on the results we can underline the high level of concentration of GI products in terms of origin and product category. The most important GI market is the domestic market of the European Union even though the share of GI production is only a minor part of total agri-food output. On the other hand, GI products with both significant market size (domestic and export) and remarka¬ble market share also exist, but these are a small set of all registered GI products and are concentrated in only a few countries.

In 2004 and 2007 twelve countries joined the European Union (EU), bringing about significant changes in the field of European agriculture. One of the major changes was the transformation of the agri-food trade of these countries. This paper analyses the effects of EU enlargement on the competitiveness of fruit spirits in six Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), especially regarding geographical indications, by using the theory of revealed comparative advantages. Although the majority of the studied CEEC fruit spirits was both competitive and had a comparative advantage in the EU-15 beverages market in the period 2001-2011, during this time the competitiveness in terms of quality and price of fruit spirits in the region declined. The results indicate that these countries are losing their market positions in their traditional fruit spirit sector in the EU-15 beverages market in spite of the fact that the majority of these products have a geographical indication. These changes are in line with the overall trend of an increasing trade deficit in the overall beverages, spirits and vinegar market of the six CEECs with the EU-15 after 2003. By contrast, the well-known grappa of Italy is shown to be competitive in terms of both price and ...