Competitiveness of EU non-Annex I products on third-country markets - the case of sugar-containing food products

Several concepts are deployed in order to assess the competitive situation and capability of sugar-containing food products of the European Union on third-country markets. After identifying the leading markets for EU products. the shares of EU exports in the imports of the respective products are determined for the period 1995 to 1999 (in the United States until 2000) and compared with those of other important exporters. The evolution of per capita sales of EU products is then presented for the main confectionery categories. Owing to the fact that few countries publish sufficient confectionery production data, the market share concept can be applied only to CN codes 1704 and 1806 for an evaluation of the competitive position. The export of chocolate from Germany to the United States is taken as a case study to show the price development across the various transaction stages from factory gate to consumer price and to compare the total average export values in the internal and external trade in order to derive an insight into the competitiveness on third-country markets.