Organizacja dystrybucji owoców i warzyw w Europie

Producers' cooperatives, auctions and wholesale markets are of vital importance for the distribution of fruit and vegetables in Europe. The competitive position of producers, wholesalers and retailers determines whether fruit and vegetables flow through more or less developed distribution channels. The distribution chain consists of one or a couple of links of wholesale trade. The function of aggregating homogeneous batches of goods is performed either by trade organizations of producers or by wholesalers. A comparison of organizational forms of wholesale distribution has been made in countries differentiated according to the volume and le vel of their horticultural production, the degree of integration of producers' milieu as well as organization of retail trade. Findings of the analysis indicate that the forms of fruit and vegetable wholesale distribution in the European countries have undergone essential structural changes. Their rate and directions were affected by the changes in production and retail sectors as well as by the economic policy of the governments of particular countries. The form of organization of wholesale trade has been strongly affected by the development of big retail stores /mainly supermarkets/ which bad a considerable impact on concentration of retail sales, and which changed the structure of retail trade and indirectly the structure of wholesale trade. .(