THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE COMPETITIVENESS OF POLISH FOOD PRODUCERS

The objective of this study is to show the influence of world economic crisis on economic situation of Polish food industry and competitiveness of Polish food producers. The study is an analysis based on statistical data. A complement of the analysis is a theoretical consideration based on topical literature and the au-thor’s own reflections. Because of development of world economy globalization processes, world economic crisis has an influence on every country in the world, both the most advanced and developing ones. The confidence in banking system has been decreasing along with a dramatic slowing down of the economic devel-opment and the economic recession. It was manifested, first of all, in the most advanced countries of the world (USA, EU, Japan) and in a part of developing countries (Russia, Ukraine). The consequences of world economic crisis are also reflected in Polish economy, but it was resistant to the crisis phenomena and there was only a slowdown of its development (from among all countries of the EU, only in Poland there was an increase of GDP). Even less sensitive to the crisis was the Polish food sector, including food industry. It was the branch of industry in which the slowdown of production development, national demand and export, with the meaningful reduction of import and investments were only transitory phenomenon (2008). After short-term deteriorations of results, food industry has even reached record economic-financial results (2009–2010). The general animation of the Polish economy has also come back. This indicates the return of developmental tendencies in Polish food industry. The coming years should be a period of further development of this sector, but at a slower rate than in the years of Poland integration with the European Union (2003–2007).