Trade and Competitiveness of the Mediterranean Countries on the Olive Oil Market

Abstract

In the context of the establishment of a Mediterranean Free Trade Area, the paper analyses the structure and competitiveness of the Mediterranean basin countries in the olive oil trade and gives a preliminary explanation of the likely impact of the next liberalization process and challenges for the EU Mediterranean countries. The paper starts showing the level of integration of the international olive oil market and underlining the main factors affecting the process. Than, after a brief explanation of the methodology adopted, it analyses the main results achieved. Conclusions try to understand the impact of the competitive scenario showed by the empirical analysis on the Euromediterranean olive oil market following the trade liberalization.International Relations/Trade,