MATERIAL AND IMPORT INTENSITY IN THE AGRICULTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS

Abstract

The main aim of the paper was to assess the measures of direct material and import intensity in the agriculture of the european Union countries. The analysis took place against the backdrop of the importance of agricultural sector in the national economies of the analyzed countries and the level of their development. The research materials covered the input-output tables for respective european Union countries for 1995, 2005, 2014. The analyses demonstrated that there was an increase in material intensity in all eU-15 countries and in Latvia, Lithuania and the czech republic. The remaining eU-13 countries noted a relative stability of the measure or its drop (slovakia and Bulgaria). At the same time, changes in the structure of material supply were found in the new Member states, mainly due to the increase the role of agriculture-related services and the declining role of agriculture. The groups of these countries also differ in terms of import intensity measures of indirect consumption of agriculture. The conducted analysis allowed to check if well-known tendencies in agricultural economics are still valid, as well as to indicate new processes taking place in agriculture of the most developed eU countries.