Agricultural Trade between Poland and Belgium : an overview

Agricultural trade between Poland and Belgium has a long history but was never very important and is rather erratic, though some products are traditionally traded, such as oilseeds, strawberries, alcoholic beverages or horse meat. The collapse of communism gives new opportunities for both partners, through normal trade practices but also thanks to the Interim Agreement signed by Poland and the European Community and thanks to the PHARE programme. However, several obstacles do exist : the Polish unstable economic, legal and political situation, the financial difficulties of the Polish enterprises, the lack of reliability of some partners, the low packaging and marketing quality of the Polish products, problems at the border, ... Nevertheless, Polish products have a good intrinsic quality and Poland does not produce some fruits and vegetables, which constitute good reasons to believe in an increase of agricultural trade between Poland and Belgium. This trade can also be enhanced by the creation of a public institution dealing with standardization, quality control and domestic and foreign promotion.