The vegetable sector plays an important role in ensuring food security. Vegetable trade flows in Romania have become a major concern due to constant trade balance deficits despite the country’s agricultural potential. Taking into account the paradox between what could be considered an abundance of factor endowments and poor trade balance results, the objective of this research was to study the linkage between vegetable trade flows and chain competitiveness. Spatial panel econometric methods were used to study the impact of the international vegetable market on the demand in Romania, while the Balassa index and Porter’s diamond modelling techniques were used to study the competitiveness of the vegetable chain at both county and national levels. By applying the spatial regression method to the international trade and national production panel data, it was found that an increase in the quantity of vegetables imported into Romania would cause an even greater decrease in national vegetable production. The results show that Romanian vegetable production is highly and negatively influenced by the growing appetite for imports—therefore leading to a national dependence on the global vegetable chain. Porter’s diamond model results confirm that: (a) growing vegetables is profitable in Romania and the average profit margin is higher in this economic sector than in many others; (b) there is a lack of competitiveness caused by the post-communist excessively fragmented agrarian land structure and poor performance of the irrigation, warehousing, and transportation sectors; (c) the national production of vegetables is generally self-sufficient with the exception of three counties that resort to importing and account for more than 70% of Romania’s total vegetable imports; (d) factor endowments cannot be fully harnessed, and this contributes to the deepening of the trade balance deficits. Improvement is possible by fostering competitiveness through increasing the performance of supporting industries and the logistics infrastructure, as well as removing market access barriers for the many small farmers.

In this study, we investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of pork carcass prices across European Union Member States, focusing on the influence of wheat prices and population income levels between 2014 and 2023. Our analysis revealed that both input costs (reflected by wheat price fluctuations) and income-driven demand factors exert significant and spatially correlated effects on pork carcass prices. The results demonstrate the existence of spatial interdependencies among neighboring countries, indicating that price changes in one region may propagate through the broader European market. By integrating spatial econometric techniques within a panel data framework, this research provides empirical evidence of the interconnected nature of EU agricultural markets, advancing the existing literature by demonstrating how input markets and consumer income dynamics jointly shape price behavior within an integrated regional economy. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of price transmission mechanisms in the livestock sector and offer valuable insights for policymakers seeking to enhance market efficiency and resilience within the Common Agricultural Policy context.