Competitiveness of the Turkish fruit and vegetable processing industry in the European Union market

Abstract

The study investigates the competitive power of Turkey's tomato, grape, and citrus fruit processing industry product exports (products with the highest shares in Turkey's total fruit and vegetable exports) in the EU market. The export similarity index reveals that Greece, Spain, and Portugal are Turkey's competitors. The revealed comparative advantage index and comparative export performance index show that Turkey's competitive power is higher than Spain and Portugal in processed grape exports, and is higher than Greece and Portugal in citrus fruit exports. There is no indication of competitiveness for processed tomato exports. The econometric import demand model reveals that relative export prices matter in determining Turkey's competitive power in the EU-processed tomato and grape markets.