Determining The International Competitiveness In Turkey’S Export Of Textile And Apparel Sector

On the product basis and sectoral basis, one of the most important indicators which is able to use in order to measure of export competitiveness (comparative advantages) in global markets of countries is “revealed comparative advantage indexes”. Revealed comparative advantage index of a country for a product is often measured by the product’s share in the country’s exports in relation to its share in world trade. The index of RCA (called as Balassa Index or Vollrath Index), is used to measure the relative importance of a product in a country’s export composition relative to that products’s relative importance in world trade. If a country’s Balassa Index of RCA for an industry exceeds 1 the country is said to have a comparative advantage in industry in question, since this industry is more important for the country’s exports than for the exports of the reference countries and vice versa. In this study, between the years 1993-2009, it is intended to determine the international competitiveness in Turkey’s export of textile and apparel sector. In this context, SITC Rev3 4 digit basis, revealed comparative advantage indexes were calculated with reference to 59 product group of textile sector and 37 product group of apparel sector. Balassa Index, Vollrath Index and Export-Import Rate Index used in the calculation of RCA indexes. The results of aforementioned index point that 43 pcs of export of sub-product group of textile sector have competitive advantage and that 34 pcs of export of sub-product group of apparel sector have competitive advantage.