IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/69989.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

COMESA’s Revealed Comparative Advantage in Common Agricultural Commodities

Author

Listed:
  • Sukati, Mphumuzi

Abstract

The paper undertakes an analysis of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) for common agricultural commodities in the COMESA Region. The aim of the analysis is firstly, to determine the level of agro-processing in the region; and secondly, in support of the COMESA industrial policy and strategy, to identify commodities countries could focus on in setting up agro-food industries. To address these two issues, RCA is determined for selected agricultural commodities, which are divided into raw/semi processed and highly processed food stuff. Results reveal that many COMESA Member States show strong RCA in raw or semi-processed agricultural commodities with little or no corresponding RCA in highly processed derivatives of those commodities. In general, very few countries in the COMESA region show strong RCA in highly processed and diversified food commodities. This means that there is still a large scope for agro-processing, especially using the abundant traded raw materials. Countries can focus on agro-industries where they show strong RCA in the corresponding raw material base or precursor. Agro-industrialization can help reverse the negative trade balance in processed food commodities that the region is currently experiencing.

Suggested Citation

  • Sukati, Mphumuzi, 2016. "COMESA’s Revealed Comparative Advantage in Common Agricultural Commodities," MPRA Paper 69989, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:69989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/69989/1/MPRA_paper_69989.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ricardo Hausmann & Bailey Klinger, 2007. "The Structure of the Product Space and the Evolution of Comparative Advantage," CID Working Papers 146, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    2. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Jean Imbs & Romain Wacziarg, 2003. "Stages of Diversification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 63-86, March.
    4. Jeroen Hinloopen & Charles Marrewijk, 2001. "On the empirical distribution of the Balassa index," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 137(1), pages 1-35, March.
    5. Bender, Siegfried & Li, Kui-Wai, 2002. "The Changing Trade and Revealed Comparative Advantages of Asian and Latin American Manufacture Exports," Center Discussion Papers 28478, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    6. Thomas Vollrath, 1991. "A theoretical evaluation of alternative trade intensity measures of revealed comparative advantage," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 127(2), pages 265-280, June.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "World Development Indicators 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13191, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. João Amador & Sónia Cabral & José Maria, 2011. "A Simple Cross-Country Index of Trade Specialization," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 447-461, July.
    2. Dany Bahar & Hillel Rapoport & Riccardo Turati, 2019. "Does Birthplace Diversity Affect Economic Complexity? Cross-Country Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 7950, CESifo.
    3. Asier Minondo, 2011. "Does comparative advantage explain countries’ diversification level?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(3), pages 507-526, September.
    4. Sandra Poncet & Felipe Starosta de Waldemar, 2015. "Product Relatedness and Firm Exports in China," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 579-605.
    5. Lyubimov, I. & Gvozdeva, M. & Kazakova, M. & Nesterova, K., 2017. "Economic Complexity of Russian Regions and their Potential to Diversify," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 94-122.
    6. Wonsub Eum & Jeong‐Dong Lee, 2022. "Alternative paths of diversification for developing countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2336-2355, November.
    7. Sekkat, Khalid, 2016. "Exchange rate misalignment and export diversification in developing countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-14.
    8. Giovanni Dosi & Federico Riccio & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2022. "Specialize or diversify? And in What? Trade composition, quality of specialization, and persistent growth [Catching up, forging ahead, and falling behind]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(2), pages 301-337.
    9. Bailey Klinger, 2009. "Is South–South Trade A Testing Ground For Structural Transformation?," UNCTAD Blue Series Papers 40, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    10. Coniglio, Nicola D. & Vurchio, Davide & Cantore, Nicola & Clara, Michele, 2021. "On the evolution of comparative advantage: Path-dependent versus path-defying changes," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Bahar, Dany & Rapoport, Hillel & Turati, Riccardo, 2022. "Birthplace diversity and economic complexity: Cross-country evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    12. Wai Kit Si Tou, 2021. "Enhancing export competitiveness by deeper integration: The case of the East African Community," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(3), pages 493-507, May.
    13. Andrey A. Gnidchenko, 2019. "Structural Transformation and Quality Ladders: Solving the “Theil's Cube”," HSE Working papers WP BRP 218/EC/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    14. Andreas Reinstaller & Elisabeth Christen & Harald Oberhofer & Peter Reschenhofer, 2016. "Eine Analyse der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Österreichs im bilateralen Handel mit den USA (TTIP)," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58723, April.
    15. Hailu, Degol & Kipgen, Chinpihoi, 2017. "The Extractives Dependence Index (EDI)," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 251-264.
    16. Martin Grančay & Tomáš Dudáš, 2019. "Bilateral trade flows and comparative advantage: does the size matter?," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 41(4), pages 397-413, December.
    17. NAPO, Fousséni & ADJANDE, Ali Awountchou, 2019. "Diversification des exportations, investissements directs étrangers et croissance économique en Afrique Subsaharienne [Export diversification, foreign direct investment and economic growth in Sub-S," MPRA Paper 95602, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 Jun 2019.
    18. Iglesias, Matias Nehuen, 2021. "Measuring size distortions of location quotients," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 189-205.
    19. Juthathip Jongwanich, 2020. "Export diversification, margins and economic growth at industrial level: Evidence from Thailand," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(10), pages 2674-2722, October.
    20. Beňo, Michal, 2021. "E-working: Country Versus Culture Dimension," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 13(2), June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    RCA; Agro-processing; Agro-industries; COMESA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:69989. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.