Abstract
By the virtue of their size, Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) present trade opportunities for both developed and developing countries. To benefit from such opportunities, countries need to identify the areas where they have comparative advantage. This paper analyses the export potential of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member countries to selected emerging market economies (EMEs) including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Turkey, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa and Nigeria. The aim is to investigate if COMESA member countries are competitive in the EMEs and identify the specific products which the region has a revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in specific EME market. Using RCA method, the study finds that COMESA countries have RCA in at least 200 products (about 4 percent) of the total 5,134 products they export to the selected emerging markets. Export of these products also account for a small market share in the emerging markets. COMESA countries therefore have a large export potential in these markets which remains unexploited. Export potential is larger in Russia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and UAE, respectively. Textiles and textile products, mineral products, base metal and articles of base metal, live animals and vegetable products have the largest export potential in EMEs. Keywords : COMESA, emerging market economies (EMEs), RCA and export potential DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-10-07 Publication date: May 31 st 2020
Highlights
Emerging economies present export market opportunities for Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member countries
The analysis shows that the combined COMESA region has revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in 200 products of the total 5,134 products they exported to the ten emerging market economy (EME) over the period 2011-2015
The Number of products for each COMESA member state with export potential in each EME are summarized in Annex 1
Summary
Emerging economies present export market opportunities for COMESA member countries. Emerging economies include lower-middle to upper middle-income countries, as based on World Bank classification of national income, they have a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of between $1,026 and $12, 375. Ten (10) emerging economies including: Brazil, Russia, India, China, Turkey, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), South Africa and Nigeria are selected based on economic indicators of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its growth rate, population and it’s growth rate, and on size and growth of exports and imports of goods and services. The annual growth rates of these countries’ population, GDP, GDP per capita, exports and imports of goods and services has been way above the World’s average over. Given the large size of their economies (in terms of population and GDP), high growth rates, sound public finances and trade openness, these countries present potential trade and investment opportunities, to the developed countries and to other developing and least developed countries
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