Abstract
The study assessed the competitiveness of Turkey and European Union countries in the trade of forest products. The study covered a period from 2006 to 2016 and focused on three commodity groups with the following harmonized system (HS) codes; HS44: Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal; HS47: Pulp of wood, or other fibrous cellulosic material, recovered (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard; and HS48: Paper and paperboard, articles of paper pulp, paper or paper board. To analyze the competitive (dis)advantage of Turkey in forest products trade with the European Countries, the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index, Relative Export Advantage Index, Relative Import Advantage Index, and the Relative Trade Index were used. In addition, Cross Relative Export Advantage and Cross Relative Import Advantage indicators were used to examine the competitiveness of Turkey and European Countries in forest products trade. The findings indicated that although Turkey’s Relative Export Advantage Index has been improving from 2012, the Relative Import Advantage Index worsened during the same period hence a trade disadvantage compared to the European Union countries in recent years.
Highlights
The European Union (EU) is Turkey’s most important trading partner by far, accounting for slightly more than half of its exports and slightly less than half of its imports
More than half of the 28 countries in the EU experience a mean Relative Import Advantage (RMA) of one and above which is higher that of Turkey over the study period. This indicates that the majority of the EU members have a higher relative import disadvantage in importing forest products compared to Turkey with Estonia having the highest mean value of RMA at 2.04 over the study period
Turkey generally is not competitive as the members of the EU when it comes to trade of forest products
Summary
The European Union (EU) is Turkey’s most important trading partner by far, accounting for slightly more than half of its exports and slightly less than half of its imports. This has gone on to increase trade flows between these two trading partners. Turkey ranks as the top fourth country that imports from the EU and ranks as the fifth leading exporter to the EU (Eurostat Comext, 2017). This increase in trade flows between Turkey and the EU has extended to the forest sector. The increase in trade flows of forest products can be attributed to factors like income growth, and advancements in forestry practice, harvesting technologies, and transportation costs, and the increased bilateral trade relations between countries (Prestemon et al, 2003)
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