Competitiveness in Global Cereals Trade

Jámbor, Attila

Keywords: cereals, competitiveness, comparative advantage, Q17

The article analyses competitiveness in global cereals trade between 1994 and 2017. The topic is novel even in the international arena, as the number of similar investigations is limited. The article applies the method of revealed comparative advantages on global cereals trade data and reaches a few conclusions. First, results suggest which countries are the biggest cereal exporters and importers globally, as well as which products are traded the most frequently. The article shows that global cereals trade is highly concentrated by country and product. By analysing specialisation in global cereals trade, Argentina, Ukraine and Canada had the highest comparative advantages, while Germany was the only amongst countries analysed lacking comparative advantages during the period. By analysing dynamics of comparative advantages, it turned out that survival chances of comparative advantages for the whole period have declined to a great extent, suggesting fierce competition in global cereal markets. Moreover, results suggest that top cereal exporters have a wise market strategy – they generally export (import) those cereals where they a have comparative advantage (disadvantage). Last but not least, Hungarian positions are also analysed in context throughout the paper.

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