PRICE RISK MANAGEMENT AS A FACTOR OF COMPETITIVENESS IMPROVEMENT IN POLISH AGRICULTURE IN CONDITIONS OF COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY LIBERALIZATIONS (Zarzadzanie ryzykiem cenowym...w warunkach liberalizacji Wspólnej Polityki Rolnej UE)

In today's globalizing world and liberalization of EU agricultural policy, as well as in the light of the increasing globalization of the operations of enterprises, risk management, and in particular management of price risk in agriculture gains on importance. The study analyses the problem of risks in agriculture, as well as identification of risk management methods available in Polish agricultural sector. Also the role is discussed of commodity futures as instruments constituting a separate and independent element of business activity of a farm, which influences the level of income level of farms present on the competitive market. The conclusion states also that in Polish agriculture price risk management is limited to physical methods such as diversification of types of production as well as - to a much smaller extent - vertical integration of entities. Financial methods of risk management cover mainly disaster insurance. It was also established that the use of foreign futures market as the way to secure prices of agricultural commodities on the domestic cash market is difficult, due to significant differences in internal economic conditions, as well as due to the absence of significant connections between markets of the same products in different countries.