An Analysis of Export Competitiveness in Myanmar: Measuring Revealed Comparative Advantage

Abstract

This paper explores export competitiveness from the perspectives of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) initiated by Balassa (1965) using trade statistics between 2010 and 2015 under HS code. It is to examine which commodities or industries Myanmar has gained RCA in over 6 years and how these trends have changed since 2010. The analysis was conducted based on HS code (Harmonized System Code) at the 4 digits headings to reach a deeper understanding since Myanmar in general is expected to have its export industries focus in primary products, such as natural resources and agricultural sectors. Results revealed consistent findings that Myanmar has had a large portion of export shares in primary products and gained RCAs in most primary sectors. In more detail, the results of RCA acknowledged that even in primary sectors, most commodities in natural resources, agriculture, fishery and livestock were showing downward trends for values of RCA over the period. The large extent of RCA consistently lies in natural resources such as mining, precious stones, natural gas, beans and pulps in the agricultural industry and garments in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, in order to understand RCA correlation with GDP growth in major trading partners, correlation analysis was also conducted.