The paper deals with evaluation of attractiveness of apple production in the Czech Republic using the Industry attractiveness evaluation matrix according to the methodology of Higgins and Vincze (1989). It identifies the key criteria for evaluation of attractiveness from five fields: market factors, competition factors, financial and economic factors, technological factors, and socio-political factors. The key criteria are described in detail and evaluated from the viewpoint of a producer operating in the apple production industry. The text comes from the papers from the field of fruit production and apple production published by Kudová (2003, 2004, 2005) and Chládková (2003). Application of these methods on other industries was applied by Žufan et al. (2001) and Tomšík, and Žufan (2004).According to the data of the Division of Perennial Plants of the Central Institutte for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture (CISTA), the number of subjects (firms and growers) operating intensive orchards reaches 1 238 on the area of 18 998 ha. In 2003 the number of subjects was 1 243 on the area of 19 514 ha. The total sales in fruit production were in decline from 1999 to 2005, and the decline of sales of apples grown in intensive orchards in 2005 was 34% in comparison with 2004. In the foreign trade, there significantly prevail imports above exports, and from 2002 to 2004 the imports of apples grew by 220%. The biggest growth of area of orchards was in 2004 – by 211 ha of mature apple-trees, which amounts only for 2% of the total area. In connection with this growth, there grew also the yield. Diversity of the market is based on varietal structure of apple-trees grown. According to the data of CISTA, the current varietal structure is not suitable and its change is very slow. Most of apples are grown in Central Bohemia, which amounts for 11% of the total area, which is more than 2000 ha. We can conclude, that even though the average market price of agricultural land is quite high – 25.76 CZK.m–2, the lands for agricultural use for market production with the area of more than 5 ha have the average price of 5.04 CZK.m–2, which is the country average of the price of agricultural land according to the value index (BPEJ).The costs of establishing an apple-tree orchard amount for CZK 409,000 to CZK 653,000 per hectare – depending on the number of trees per hectare. The average costs of attending an apple-tree orchard are CZK 75.226 per hectare (average for the period of 1998–2003). Profits in this industry are based on selling the harvest through growers-organization or to a cannery, or by storing the fruits in own warehouses (only those with a controlled atmosphere are competitive).Fruit consumption in the Czech Republic is slightly increasing from 1990, and till 2005 it grew by 12.1 kg per person per year (by 18.8%) to the current 76.5 kg per person per year. Apples have an important share on the total fruit consumption, and their consumption grows, as well. The increase in the period of 1990─2005 was 65%. European Union, and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic through the State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) introduce a spectrum of support programmes, in which it is possible to apply for financial support. But it is necessary to emphasize, that many fruit producers are not able to get to these funds because of high administrative demands on filling-in and submitting the proposals.The attractiveness of the Czech apple production is evaluated as below-average; the resulting attractiveness score according to the Industry Attractiveness Evaluation Matrix is 2.41, which means that it is lower than the general average score (3).The paper is a part of solution of the research plan of the Faculty of Business and Economics, MUAF in Brno (No. MSM 6215648904).
The importance of proper evidence and identification of metallurgical materials for effective management of the company
