Competitiveness and Export Performance of Pakistan’s Horticultural Sector

Abstract

The current study examines the export performance and competitiveness in the horticultural sector of Pakistan. The data has been collected from International Trade Center UN-COMTRADE statistics for the horticultural exports from 2004-2019. This study has utilized numerous indices of revealed comparative advantage such as RCA, InRCA, Vollrath index (RCA#), Revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA), revealed trade advantage (RTA), Relative import advantage index (RMA) and net export index (NEI) to measure competitiveness in the horticultural exports of Pakistan. The findings of the analysis indicate that Pakistan had a comparative and competitive advantage in the horticultural sector during 2004-2019. The positive NEI index highlights Pakistan was a net-exporter of horticultural sector in the years of 2004 and 2013, while in the remaining years Pakistan remained a net-importer in this sector. The index of RMA depicts that Pakistan had a competitive advantage in the imports of horticultural sector in the year 2004, whereas Pakistan had a competitive disadvantage in the imports from 2005-2019. The RTA index reveals that Pakistan had a net comparative disadvantage in the years 2006, 2007 and 2009, on the other hand Pakistan had a net comparative advantage in the remaining years.