Changes in the Structure and Economic Result of the Vegetable Products Processing Sector in Poland on the Conditions of Integration into the European Union

The food industry constitutes an important link in the marketing chain of food. It combines the area of agricultural production with the trade and consumption links. An important role in the structure of this industry is played by the branches processing farm raw materials of vegetable origin. This paper is an attempt to define the changes in the structure, functioning, and the economic result of these sectors on the conditions of the integration of Poland into the European Union structures. The accessible statistical data enabled a compilation of a set of ratios that characterise the structure and the economic result of the particular sectors of the food processing industry. The main directions and the dynamics of changes have been defined by the comparison of the mentioned ratios for the years 2006 and 2003. The research justified that the analysed branches revealed a noticeable tendency of a diminishing number of entities operating on the market with a simultaneous increase in employment and the value added. The majority of the examined sectors showed the ratios describing the efficiency of activities being at a higher level than their level in the general food industry and the whole Polish industrial processing.