The duration of global agri-food export competitiveness

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pattern, duration and country-level determinants of global agri-food export competitiveness of 23 major global agri-food trading countries.

A large panel data set is compiled to facilitate assessment of the pattern, duration and country-level determinants of global agri-food export competitiveness using a revealed comparative advantage index.

The results suggest that the duration of revealed comparative advantage is heterogeneous at the agri-food product level. Long-term survival rates as revealed by the comparative advantage indices are among the highest for the Netherlands, France, Belgium, the USA, Argentina and New Zealand. The level of economic development, the share of agricultural employment, subsidies to agriculture and differentiated consumer agri-food products increase the likelihood of failure in the duration of comparative advantage, while the abundance of agricultural land and export diversification reduce that likelihood.

The framework is conceptually innovative in how it models the likelihood of failure in the duration of comparative advantage and assesses implications. Export competitiveness is a crucial factor in long-term global farm business survival as it fosters opportunities for business prosperity on global markets.