SLOVENIAN AGRI-FOOD SECTOR – A DECADE AFTER THE EU ACCESSION

The paper outlines the most noticeable economic effects of the 2004 accession of Slovenia to the European Union (EU) on its agri-food sector. The main national statistical data are used to compare the situation in the Slovenian agri-food sector in the pre- and postaccession period. The main expected effects were related to joining the vast Common market through increased market competition and opportunities, as well as through the structural and organizational adjustments of a relatively small agri-food sector to it. Unexpectedly, these adjustments were halted in general, resulting most evidently in the increased export of raw agri-food products and import of processed products. Slovenian agri-food chain, especially the food industry, remains heavily challenged by its relatively poor competitive and organizational performance, both even more pronounced a decade after the EU accession