ASSESSMENTS AND DYNAMICS OF TRADE SPECIALIZATION OF AGRI-FOOD PRODUCTS EMPIRIC EVIDENCES FROM ROMANIA

Research has focused on the analysis of the Romania's agri-food comparative advantages based on the indices of trade specialization assessed pre- and post-accession to the EU. The method of calculation of the specialization degree index used the original Lafay index adapted on the agricultural sector. The index allows the assessment of the contribution of each product in relation to the corresponding importance in trade, which provides the ranking of products by their level of competitiveness on the international markets. The index measures the contribution of each Romanian agricultural product, aggregated by the chapters of the Combined Nomenclature at 2 digit aggregation level, to the total agri-food trade, within the period 2004-2010. The research results indicate, for the analyzed period, a decrease of the specialization level and a loss in trade diversification of the Romanian products. The detailed results provide a hierarchy of the agri-food products in relation to the highest specialization level demonstrated in Romania's foreign trade relations.