Has the euro been fattening the European pig meat trade?

Abstract

The introduction of the euro is one of the great achievements of the European integration process. We ask whether the creation of the euro led to a significant increase in pig meat trade in the eurozone. The pig meat industry is the most important in the European meat sector, and the EU is the world's second-biggest producer of pork and the leading supplier of pig meat to the global market. No study has yet been conducted in this respect for this sector. Our results suggest that pig meat trade was encouraged between countries sharing the euro, although the impact of EU single market was still greater. Trade creation was also observed, increasing pig meat exports from eurozone to non-eurozone countries. Also, non-eurozone EU exporters suffer from a diversion effect that benefits eurozone exporters.

Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (Project No. ECO2015-65031-R).