COMPETITIVENESS OF THE CZECH MEAT INDUSTRY ON THE SINGLE MARKET

New Member States have been part of the Single market since joining the European Union in 2004. This step brought various challenges in each of these countries because of appreciable difference in competitiveness compared to old EU Member States. This article puts to the test the competitiveness of the Czech meat industry. This is one of the most important parts of the agri-food production, which is still a very important part of regional economics in less developed regions. Thus, it represents cultural heritage of the countryside. The main aim is to investigate specific branches of the Czech meat industry according to their competitiveness on the Single market. In the article, we make conclusion on different states of the competitiveness of three main branches of the Czech meat industry, which represents 85.6% of the overall meat export. Conducted research provided information on positive change in the export during the observed period of time, but the comparison of absolute export and import numbers did not refer to a positive development of the Czech meat industry. Furthermore, we observed tendency to locate meat production near local markets and in developed regions.