Global Competition in Wheat and Meslin, Maize and Rice Products: Türkiye's Competitiveness

Global trade in agricultural products is critical for food security. As the volume of trade has increased and become more complex, it has become important to assess global competition in the trade of agricultural products. The objective of the study is to assess Türkiye's position and level of specialization in relation to the competitiveness of the top 20 countries in the global export market for three key agricultural products wheat and meslin, maize and rice over the period 2004-2023. These three products were chosen due to their significant role in the global economy. For the analysis, data were selected using the Harmonized System (HS) 4-digit product codes from Trade Map database. Specifically, wheat and meslin are coded as “1001”, maize as “1005”, and rice as “1006”. 20 years of data on the exports and imports of countries were used and analyzed with the Indices of Revealed Comparative Advantage, Net Exports and Export-Import Ratio. According to the results of the RCA analysis, Ukraine has the highest competitive advantage in the global wheat and meslin export market, while Türkiye is the most competitively disadvantaged country. In the maize export market, Argentina holds the highest competitive advantage, whereas Türkiye is the most disadvantaged. In the rice export market, Guyana has the highest competitive advantage, with Türkiye being the most disadvantaged country after Austria.