Slovak Wine Exports - Determinants and Competitiveness

From 2004, the Slovak wine export is growing on average. Because of that, it is important to analyse the factors determining its successfulness in international market. The objective of this article is to identify the determinants of Slovak wine export, and to determine the trade competitiveness of Slovak wine. The results show that the growth of wine consumption per capita of the importing country has a positive effect on the Slovak wine exports. We also found that Slovak wine exporters tend to trade more with countries with different sized economies such as Germany, USA, United Kingdom, China and Japan. Surprising is that Slovak wines were considered inferior goods by foreign consumers. Moreover, RCA and RTA calculation results point to the fact that during the selected time period, Slovakia had a comparative disadvantage in wine. We did not find any evidence of impact of EU and EMU membership or FTAs signed by the Slovak Republic on the value of exported wine.