The recent outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has made a significant impact on the global financial markets. The aim of this paper is to assess the short-term reaction of the Visegrad countries’ financial markets to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Visegrad Group is a political alliance of four Central European countries, namely Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The financial assessment is based on the EUR/CZK, EUR/HUF, and EUR/PLN exchange rates and the major blue-chip stock market indices, that is Prague PX, Budapest BUX, Warsaw WIG20, and Bratislava SAX. It is evident that the ongoing pandemic has changed the expectations of the financial market participants about the future value of exchange rates in the Visegrad countries. This study indicates that, as a consequence of COVID-19, higher probability has been attached to the large depreciation of the Czech koruna (CZK), the Hungarian forint (HUF), and the Polish zloty (PLN) than to their large appreciation. Moreover, based on the TGARCH model, the positive and significant correlation between the number of reported COVID-19 cases and the exchange rates has been confirmed, implying that the ongoing pandemic has resulted in the depreciation of the Visegrad currencies. Additionally, the result of the TGARCH model reveals that there is a significant and negative link between the Visegrad stock market indices and the COVID-19 spread.

Although the EU and the USA are the largest players in the global agricultural market, there are only a few up-to-date comparative studies concerning their agricultural potential and performance. No comprehensive study covering all individual EU member states in relation to the USA has been provided so far. Considering that in the light of the lasting impasse in the negotiations on both international and transatlantic trade liberalization, differences in the production structures seem to be a decisive factor affecting competitiveness of the EU and the US agriculture, the paper attempts to identify the gap in the agricultural potential between individual EU countries and the USA and determine which EU countries are able to face the competitive pressure exerted by the US agricultural producers. Ward’s agglomerative hierarchical clustering method with the Euclidean distance was used to separate the most and the least competitive countries depending on their agricultural potential. Based on the conducted analyses it may be stated that the US agriculture is characterized by more rational ratios between production factors, resulting in their higher efficiency compared to the EU. The conducted typological analysis showed that thanks to the high standard of capital assets per employee leading to high labor productivity, only such countries as Germany, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Belgium may be considered as capable of meeting the competitive pressure exerted by the US agriculture with its greater degree of concentration and benefits from proper proportions between the production factors. A much more difficult competitive situation is observed in the EU countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean region, specializing in land- and labor-intensive production, in which the rational utilization of the production potential is limited by the structural deficit, resulting from the fragmented agrarian structure and manifested in the low level of land and capital assets assigned to labor actively involved in the production process.

The agrarian structure in Poland is dominated by small farms; the large share of these is a result of historical consequences. The economy has pushed small farms toward economic efficiency, which in farming often translates into increasing the scale of production. The primary objective of this research was to present the directions of the changes in the number of small farms in Central and Eastern Poland and to indicate the factors determining their functioning and development. The research was based on a random sample selection from rural municipalities, villages and small farms. The researchers collected 19 completed surveys from municipal agricultural officers, 75 surveys from village mayors and 116 surveys from small and active farms. The data from the farm surveys was analysed using k-mean cluster analyses and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to distinguish farms into homogenous groups. Three types of farms were identified: “hobby”, “two-occupation” and “professional” farms. The research shows that in the municipalities of Central and Eastern Poland, the number of landowners (over 1 ha of arable land) paying agricultural tax increased by 9% between 2005 and 2017. A significant gap was identified between the number of “official farmers” and “active” farmers. In the farm category surveyed, “active” farmers numbered only 33% of all farming entities. The surveys confirmed that the development of small farms is particularly influenced by external factors (EU funding; national benefits), rather than internal (entrepreneurial) factors. An in-depth survey of farmers, municipal agricultural officers and village mayors shows that “professional” farmers (Cluster 0) are expected to invest, develop and innovate. Farmers managing “hobby” and “two-occupation” farms have a reserved attitude towards investment and their objective is to maximise the benefits related to the arming status. In the authors’ opinions, “professional” farms have the highest probability of being economically viable, while others tend to focus on the provision of public goods related to financial support.

Securitization of the agricultural commodity market has accelerated since the beginning of the 21st century, particularly in the times of financial market uncertainty and crisis. Sugar belongs to the group of important agricultural commodities. The global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a substantial increase in the stock market volatility. Moreover, the novel coronavirus hit both the sugar market’s supply and demand side, resulting in sugar stock changes. The paper aims to assess potential structural changes in the relationship between sugar prices and the financial market uncertainty in a crisis time. In more detail, using sequential Bai–Perron tests for structural breaks, we check whether the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have induced structural breaks in that relationship. Sugar prices are represented by the S&P GSCI Sugar Index, while the S&P 500 option-implied volatility index (VIX) is used to show stock market uncertainty. To investigate the changes in the relationship between sugar prices and stock market uncertainty, a regression model with a sequential Bai–Perron test for structural breaks is applied for the daily data from 2000–2020. We reveal the existence of two structural breaks in the analysed relationship. The first breakpoint was linked to the global financial crisis outbreak, and the second occurred in December 2011. Surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has not induced the statistically significant structural change. Based on the regression model with Bai–Perron structural changes, we show that from 2000 until the beginning of the global financial crisis, the relationship between the sugar prices and the financial market uncertainty was insignificant. The global financial crisis led to a structural change in the relationship. Since August 2008, we observe a significant and negative relationship between the S&P GSCI Sugar Index and the S&P 500 option-implied volatility index (VIX). Sensitivity analysis conducted for the different financial market uncertainty measures, i.e., the S&P 500 Realized Volatility Index confirms our findings.

Poland, and its sugar market, represents very specific phenomenon among countries producing primarily sugar from sugar beet. Polish sugar production is relatively high in comparison to other European countries and have not negligible export potential. Main aim of presented contribution is to identify main trends and important specifics connected to sugar industry development between years 2000 and 2017. From the analyses of Polish sugar industry and sugar market following findings could be concluded. Production of sugar beet is constantly developing toward more intensive production; mainly yield, sugar content and average cultivated area per one grower increased significantly, but still Polish producers belongs among the smallest in the whole EU. Production is also subsidised by coupled national payment of 380 EUR/ha. Polish market underwent significant restructuring that on one side resulted in significant reduction of amount of sugar refineries and sugar beet producers. On the other hand, it resulted in considerable concentration of production capacities among subjects that successfully passed the transformation phase. Despite reduction of sugar refineries from original 76 to 18, sugar beet production remained almost unchanged at the level of 12 million tonnes. Also raw sugar production remained almost unchanged and during the period oscillated around the level of 2 million tonnes. On contrary production of white sugar increased significantly from 1.54 million tonnes in 2001 to 2.1 million tonnes in 2016. Reduction of sugar refineries was in this perspective compensated by the modernisation of production facilities and increase of their processing capacities. Between 2001 and 2016 length of sugar campaign increased from average 51 days to about 112 days. The average processing capacity of one sugar refinery grew by tens of percent. At present all production capacities are controlled by only four actors (Krajowa Spolka Cukrowa S.A., Nordzucker Polska S.A., Pfeifer&Langen, Südzucker Polska S.A.). The market evince strong characteristics of oligopoly with domination of 3 subjects, state-owned Krajowa Spolka Cukrowa S.A.; Südzucker Polska S.A and Pfeifer&Langen, both owned by German capital. Polish sugar export was not harmed significantly during transformation period. Recently it oscillates around 0.5 million tonnes annually. Increasing unit price per kilogram of exported sugar is considered as positive and important factor that pushed total value of exports to approximately 240 million EUR. Extreme territorial concentration is seen as a weak point of Polish sugar foreign trade. Top 10 countries participate on Polish exports and imports with sugar approximately by 72.56% and 92.94% respectively (2016).

This article compares the rate of self-sufficiency of selected types of meat (beef, pork, and poultry) in the Visegrad countries. The data are obtained from Eurostat and from national statistical offices of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. The rate of self-sufficiency is evaluated for the time period 2003-2013 and its results are compared to trade coverage ratio that indicates competitiveness of country in given commodity. Degree of self-sufficiency is an important indicator of country's ability to meet demand of domestic supply. From the obtained results, it can be concluded, that the situation in the Czech Republic with regard to self-sufficiency significantly deteriorated after EU accession, especially in the area of pork and poultry. The self-sufficiency for pork meat decreased to 57% and to 73% in the case of poultry. The situation is quite stable for beef. However beef creates only a small portion of the Czech consumption. A similar situation can be observed in Slovakia, its degree of self-sufficiency of pork and poultry declined down to 53% and 78% respectively. To cover production of poultry and pork from national resources in both countries, production would need to increase by millions of swine and chicken, which may be complicated with respect to existing infrastructure. The production of beef, poultry and pork is sufficient in Poland, production covers consumption. Selfsufficiency in beef increased above 400% mainly due to decline in beef consumption. Since 2009, self-sufficiency in pork has slightly risen and in 2013 it reached 117%. Consumption and production of poultry is on the rise, poultry become a substitute to beef; processing industry doubled its output between 2003 and 2013. Also Hungary, similarly to Poland, is able to cover domestic consumption by domestic production. The self-sufficiency in the case of poultry meat reach 170%, which is positively reflected in the trade balance. Between 2003 and 2013, the rate of self-sufficiency in pork meat fluctuates between 105 and 120%. The trade balance in beef is balanced and correlated with the degree of self-sufficiency moving slightly above 100%.

The increasing volume and value of food waste is a huge threat to achieving sustainable development, food market stability, human population growth, and people’s well-being. Considering that consumers are responsible for a large degree of food waste, the current study looks at the problem of household food waste from the perspective of both food product attributes and consumers’ lifestyles. Specifically: How do people differ in their food disposal inclination based on their food-related lifestyle and products’ quality attributes? The Total Food Quality Model was applied to describe product attributes (taste, health, process, and convenience) whereas food-related lifestyle was measured with: innovativeness/novelty, information about products/health, convenience, price, taste, local/organic food, and social events. The Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis method, based on 753 participants, was used to assess the importance of individual attributes and levels. Clustering was carried out to identify people with similar preferences: through elbow method and Silhouette value maximization, three customer segments were identified. To investigate the distinct characteristics of these clusters related to food waste, one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. The obtained results confirm that consumers who overlap in their product attribute preferences also share a food-related lifestyle. The main contribution is the identification of consumer groups and the differences that characterize them in terms of the determinants of behaviour related to the importance of the factors of food products influencing the tendency to waste them.

KOTYZA PAVEL, SLABOCH JOSEF. 2014. Food Self Suffi ciency in Selected Crops in the Czech Republic and Poland. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 62(6): 1329-1341.Being a member of the EU, today the Czech Republic is not entirely dependent on domestic production of food and farming commodities. Since borders inside the EU are open, particular commodities can fl ow without any tariff measures. But food self-suffi ciency belongs to internal factors of national security and therefore it deserves suffi cient attention. The aim of this article is to evaluate, based on an analysis, the self-suffi ciency rate of the Czech Republic and Poland in selected commodities of crop production between marketing years 2000/2001-2009/2010, with special attention to the most important and cultivated commodities -basic cereals, oilseeds, corn and potatoes. Based on analyses of self-suffi ciency rate it can be concluded, that both countries can be considered as stabilised with restpect to rate of self-suffi cency of selected crops -none of the presented groups falls under 80%. For most described commodities the trend of self-suffi ciency rate in the Czech Republic and Poland is stabilised or growing. Only production of potatoes is coming close to critical treshhold in CZ, therefore national strategies should be put in place to maintain the self-suffi ciency rate above the critical limit. A er an analysis of internation trade it can be concluded that the Czech Republic is specialised exporter of not-processed commodities but country signifi cantly falls behind Poland in competitiveness of processing of commodities.