The global economic slowdown, brought about by the financial crisis in the U.S. economy (2007–2009), resulted in a significant drop in the world trade and had an impact on the Polish economy. While the world exports fell by 22,9% in 2009, the decrease noted in the Polish one was lesser (20,5%), which can be interpreted as an evidence that companies in Poland made effective use of their comparative advantages. The aim of this paper is to analyse structural changes in Polish export: its main commodities, markets, and technological intensity in the period 2008–2012 along with an identification of sections characterized by the most dynamic growth. For the purpose of this research trade data disaggregated by goods according to the Harmonised System (HS) were used and the evolution of revealed comparative advantages (RCA) was covered. Polish export facing the consequences of the global slowdown did not, however, bring about any significant improvement of structural competitiveness of the economy in terms of its technological intensity. This means that there is a great deal of challenges related to a scenario in which the existing developmental gap would be preserved.

The global economic slowdown, brought about by the financial crisis in the U.S. economy (2007–2009), resulted in a significant drop in the world trade and had an impact on the Polish economy. While the world exports fell by 22,9% in 2009, the decrease noted in the Polish one was lesser (20,5%), which can be interpreted as an evidence that companies in Poland made effective use of their comparative advantages. The aim of this paper is to analyse structural changes in Polish export: its main commodities, markets, and technological intensity in the period 2008–2012 along with an identification of sections characterized by the most dynamic growth. For the purpose of this research trade data disaggregated by goods according to the Harmonised System (HS) were used and the evolution of revealed comparative advantages (RCA) was covered. Polish export facing the consequences of the global slowdown did not, however, bring about any significant improvement of structural competitiveness of the economy in terms of its technological intensity. This means that there is a great deal of challenges related to a scenario in which the existing developmental gap would be preserved.