Geographical Delineation of Sugar Market Basing on Elzinga-Hogarty Method

The aim of the paper was to define the geographical scope of the sugar market using the Elzinga−Hogarty method. For practical use of this method the authors made three assumptions: 1) sugar market was studied integrally, independently from type of sugar, its origin and kind of customer, 2) the European Union market treated en bloc was the starting point for the analysis, 3) LOFI and LIFO tests were established at the level of 90% (“strong” market). The authors used secondary data on sugar production, consumption, imports and exports on country and the EU level gathered for 2013 by the International Sugar Organization. Sugar market was defined by “adding” to each other subsequent national markets characterised by the highest trade exchange.The markets were added until the requirements for LOFI and LIFO tests were met at the level of 90%. The results of the research allow the authors to define the sugar market as a global market which consists of the EU area and 30 other countries in the world. Such market has production of 114 million tonnes, consumption of 110 million tonnes and small share of import and export at the level of 10.7 million tonnes and 11.4 million tonnes, respectively. The geographical definition of the sugar market determined in the paper is much broader than the ones used by the European Union and the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The controversy about the geographical scope of the sugar market suggests the need for further research in the area