Poland′s fruit industry in transition

Examines the development of Poland′s fruit industry up to 1990, followed by the situation since that year, in which legislative reforms were introduced, mainly to break up state monopolies and to privatize state assets. Analyses the Polish fruit industry in the light of the resultant shift from a sellers′ to a buyers′ market, discussing the grower, wholesaling, processing and exporting sectors, and finally the role of marketing in exporting. Conducts a SWOT analysis of the industry, as a result of which makes recommendations for: increasing growers′ influence on exports; introducing a new wholesale marketing system; improving processing equipment; rationalizing exportprocedures to the advantage of domestic competition. Sees the current transport and communication set‐ups as significant problems. Concludes that, although the temptation is to follow the capitalist route and opt for the smaller enterprise as an exporting unit, the old Communist‐style large state enterprise is still the ideal vehicle for selling fruit of Poland′s calibre abroad.