Growth of citrus production among the Euro-Mediterranean countries: political implications and empirical findings

Abstract

The agricultural matter has always played an important role in holding back the Euro-Mediterranean integration process due to the strong complementarity of the agricultures of the coastal countries which share excellent products including citrus fruits. The main goal of this paper is to understand the growth dynamics of the citriculture in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Through the application of the dynamic formulation of the Shift and Share Analysis it has been possible to analyse the trend of the amount of harvested citrus production, in physical and economic terms, in the last fifteen years, and above all which components, structural and competitive, have mainly influenced these performances. The results of the analysis highlight on the whole a positive trend of the citrus fruits sector in the Mediterranean coastal countries which, although characterized by an adequate productive structure, suffer in some cases from competitiveness limits. A clear dualism emerges among the coastal countries: on the one hand, the North-African and the Near-East countries –extra-EU members– show a dynamic and competitive citrus production mainly thanks to the implementation of effective government policies consistent with the aim to increase the competitiveness of the sector; on the other hand, other countries, mainly EU members, are significantly late in competitiveness, showing their inability to reorganize themselves in the direction shown by the demand trend and the agricultural policies.