Trade Of Countries Research Articles

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE PREDICTION OF INDONESIA'S LARGEST TRADING PARTNER BASED ON VECTOR ERROR CORRECTION MODEL

Foreign exchange rates from the currencies of trading partners are a critical element in the development of Indonesia's economic landscape. As an active country in international trade, Indonesia's economic health is highly dependent on trade partnerships, movements, and interactions of foreign exchange rates from Indonesia's main trading partners. To achieve economic stability, Bank Indonesia intervenes in the foreign exchange market to keep the Rupiah exchange rate within a reasonable range. Indonesia is committed to achieving several points in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as point 17, which emphasizes partnerships, and point 8, which underlines inclusive and sustainable economic growth. This commitment is an important factor in Indonesia's economic development. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the exchange rate value of Indonesia's largest trading partners considering these SDG aspects. In this study, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to predict the foreign exchange rate of Indonesia's largest trading partners. The data used in this study is secondary data obtained from the investing.com webpage, comprising weekly data from January 2021 to November 2023. The foreign exchange rates of Indonesia's largest trading partners have a cointegration relationship, indicating long-term relationships and similarities in movements. The best model identified is VECM (1), with a very accurate MAPE value of 3.29%. The Impulse Response Function (IRF) analysis shows that the Chinese Yuan responds variably to different currencies, stabilizing over time. Variance Decomposition reveals that short-term fluctuations in the Chinese Yuan are primarily influenced by itself (87.89%) and significantly by the Singapore Dollar, South Korean Won, and Taiwan Dollar. The Granger Causality Test indicates that the Philippine Peso influences 11 other exchange rates, refining the VECM model and improving prediction accuracy. Indonesia is expected to build economic collaborations that can help achieve economic stability.

Macroeconomic and trade policy impacts based on DSGE model

In the context of economic de-globalization, especially the impact of COVID-19, the adjustment of one country's macroeconomic and trade policies will have spillover effects on trading partners. Build DSGE models between the two countries, in which Epstein - Zin utility function replacement time can be divided into the utility function, to solve the model, using the second order approximate solution technology with particle filter to estimate the parameters, and analysis of the open economy under the background of a country's technological progress, monetary policy, labor supply, government spending and tariff policy on macroeconomic impact between the two countries. It is found that the impact of China's technological progress on F country's macro economy is greater than that of F country on China. The spillover effect of monetary policy on another country's macro economy will change the consumption structure of both countries. The impact of China's labor supply shock on the total investment of F country is greater than that of F country on China. The positive impact of government spending on another country's inflation rate is lower than other policy shocks. The impact of the positive impact of government expenditure in F country on China's aggregate demand is greater than that of China on F country.

Does Sino-US trade friction hurt corporate resilience? Evidence from Chinese enterprises

As the world’s largest foreign trading country, China has faced numerous trade investigations in recent years. We select panel data from China’s manufacturing A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021 to explore the impact of Sino-US trade friction on corporate resilience and its internal mechanisms. The results show that: (1) The intensification of Sino-US trade friction significantly reduces the resilience of Chinese microenterprises. This conclusion remains robust after a series of tests using PSM-DID and other methods. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the resilience of export enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises in developed regions are more severely impacted by Sino-US trade friction. (3) Mechanism tests reveal that Sino-US trade friction damages enterprise resilience mainly through three channels: damaging the spirit of entrepreneurs, reducing internal operating profits, and exacerbating external financing constraints. The results provide theoretical and empirical support for understanding the survival effects of microeconomic entities under the impact of Sino-US trade friction.

The trade potential of grain crops in the countries along the Belt and Road: evidence from a stochastic frontier model

This study employs the stochastic frontier model (SFM) to analyze trade potential and efficiency in wheat and maize among Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries from 2002 to 2021, encompassing 45 countries for wheat trade and 55 for maize trade. The empirical findings reveal that economic development level, population growth, government efficiency, political stability, and regulatory quality are critical determinants of trade efficiency. Notably, World Trade Organization (WTO) membership exhibits a negative correlation with trade efficiency, potentially reflecting challenges in rule implementation and opportunity utilization among member states. In the context of maize trade, increased arable land area is inversely associated with efficiency, suggesting potential issues in managing large-scale agricultural regions or optimizing land use. The BRI’s impact on trade efficiency varies across countries, with Turkey and Hungary showing improved wheat trade efficiency, while Ethiopia and Georgia experienced declines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, effective disease management strategies and diversified trade mechanisms significantly influenced trade efficiency. Furthermore, the study reveals that larger economies do not necessarily outperform small and medium-sized economies in terms of trade potential. These findings contribute significantly to the literature on agricultural trade and offer valuable insights for policymakers, emphasizing the importance of enhancing government efficiency, political stability, and regulatory quality in the context of regional economic development initiatives such as the BRI. This research underscores the need for tailored approaches to trade policy and agricultural management, considering the unique characteristics and challenges faced by different economies along BRI.

Impacts of Trade Flows on Household Welfare During Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from OECD Countries

While there are studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 policies and international trade, there is still limited evidence examining the relationships between international trade and household welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. To fill this gap, this study examined the presupposed associations between international trade and household welfare in OECD countries. The study applies the fixed effects regression method to analyze panel data compiled from the UN COMTRADE and the OECD Social and Welfare Statistics databases. The findings reveal that international trade flows show significant associations with various aspects of household welfare indicators including unemployment rate, labor underutilization rate and household savings. Furthermore, the results show that the COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on labor underutilization, household consumption, and household savings. Policy recommendations are addressed based on the key findings.

An Investigation on the Effectiveness and Trade Direction of ASEAN Trade Agreements

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the ASEAN regional trade agreement by comparing the growth rates of intra-ASEAN trade with those of the rest of the world as well as with major trading countries, China, the USA, the EU, and India. The objective of this research is threefold: To identify existing trade trends, to determine the underlying explanations for these trends, and finally, to compare intra-ASEAN trade trends with the inter-ASEAN countries’ trade trends. This paper takes a descriptive approach and dynamic panel GMM methods spanning the years 1990 to 2019. Between 2005 and 2019, growth rates among members of intra-ASEAN, Indonesia-Malaysia, Indonesia-Thailand, Singapore-Thailand, Malaysia-Philippines, and Philippines-Thailand, all decreased. Additionally, although the market share of imports and exports within ASEAN has decreased over time, the market share of imports and exports of inter-ASEAN has increased, especially with China and India. The results of descriptive analysis of inter-ASEAN trade openness are supported by first-differenced GMM and system GMM. This is the first study to examine historical intra-ASEAN trade trends and growth and compare them to inter-ASEAN trade trends and growth to determine whether AFTA has a greater impact on intra-ASEAN trade growth than on inter-ASEAN trade growth using updated aggregated data. This study sheds light on the fact that over the periods intra-ASEAN trade could not outperform inter-ASEAN trade by a significant margin due to trade diversity challenges and incomplete implementation of WTO regulations.

FEATURES OF FOREIGN TRADE BETWEEN UKRAINE AND THE USA IN 2015-2023

Objective. The objective of the present study is to analyze the state and identify the features of the development of foreign trade relations between Ukraine and the United States in 2015-2023. Methods. The following methods and techniques of cognition were used: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction (to substantiate the importance and role of the United States in the development of Ukraine's foreign trade relations), analysis of series of dynamics (to identify trends and patterns of development, peculiarities of the dynamics of foreign trade relations between Ukraine and the United States), graphical (to visualise the peculiarities of the development of foreign trade relations between Ukraine and the United States). Results. Based on the study of the status and peculiarities of development of foreign trade relations between Ukraine and the USA in 2015-2023, the author establishes that despite the fact that the history of development of foreign trade relations between Ukraine and the USA dates back to 1992, during 1992-2023, more than 100 different agreements were concluded between Ukraine and the USA, during the period under analysis, the USA was not the main foreign trade partner of Ukraine - the share of trade with the USA accounted for an average of 7.5% of Ukraine's foreign trade turnover. It is proved that during 2015-2023, foreign trade relations between the countries steadily developed and deepened, which was reflected in the growth of the share of foreign trade between the countries in the total foreign trade of Ukraine by 6.4%. It is established that during 2015-2021, the lion's share of foreign trade turnover between the countries was formed by foreign trade in goods, but starting from 2022 - by foreign trade in services (in 2022, foreign trade in services accounted for 82.1% of foreign trade between Ukraine and the United States, in 2023 - 76.9%). It was determined that in 2015-2023: the rate of growth of the volume of foreign trade in services of Ukraine and the USA was almost 6.5 times higher than the rate of growth of the volume of foreign trade in goods, as of 2023, foreign trade in services significantly exceeded foreign trade in goods in terms of volume; the balance of foreign trade in goods was negative and constantly growing; the coefficient of coverage of imports by exports was characterized by a constant tendency to decrease; the main articles of Ukrainian commodity exports to the USA were products made of cast iron or steel, iron and steel, preparations made from vegetables, fruits, nuts or other parts of plants; imports - means of transport, except railway or tram rolling stock; mineral fuel, petroleum products and products of their distillation; machines and mechanical devices, boilers, nuclear reactors, their parts; the balance of foreign trade in services was both positive (in 2015-2021) and negative (in 2022-2023); the coefficient of coverage of imports by exports significantly decreased by almost 0.93 points; the main articles of Ukrainian export of services to the USA were: air transport services; construction; services related to financial activities; financial services paid directly; auxiliary services in the field of financial activity; services related to patent activity; services in the field of telecommunications, computer and information services; computer services; information services; scientific and technical services; imports of Ukrainian services from the USA were: state and governmental services; auxiliary services in the field of financial activity; services related to financial activities; trade-related services and brokerage services other royalties.

Pak Central Asia's Southern Trade Routes: Critical Comparison of New Central Asian Economic Outlets

The twentieth century is discernable by global events including wars and technological changes focused by the mutual desires of powerful countries as the colonial rule was over and world moved away from closed markets which led to a more connected global economy. In order to remove barriers of trade countries worked hard as a result many regions benefited. Conversely, Asia remained slightly quarantined from international trade. The study is focused on the potential of some countries of Central Asia to become significant players in the global trade market due to their rich oil and gas resources such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Central Asia looks for support to engage in trade, including Pakistan. However, challenges like fear of Russian influence, Islamic concerns, and the dominance of the United States have created confusion in the region. Turkey, Iran, Russia, and Pakistan all have different approaches, which complicates the situation.

Direct, Embedded, and Embodied Trade of Arsenic: 1990-2019.

International arsenic trade, physical and virtual, has resulted in considerable transfer of arsenic pollution across regions. However, no study has systematically captured, estimated, and compared physical and virtual arsenic trade and its relevant impacts. This study combines material flow analysis and embodied emission factors to estimate embedded (including direct and indirect trade) and embodied arsenic trade during 1990-2019, encompassing 18 arsenic-containing products among 244 countries. Global embedded arsenic trade increased considerably from 47 ± 7.3 to 450 ± 68 kilotonnes (kt) during this time and was dominated by indirect arsenic trade, contributing 94 and 90% to global arsenic trade in 1990 and 2019, respectively. Since the 1990s, global arsenic trade centers and the main flows have shifted from European and American markets to developing countries. The mass of arsenic involved in embodied trade increased from 87.5 ± 26 kt in 1990 to 800 ± 236 kt in 2019. Direct trade and indirect trade aggravate arsenic environmental emissions in major importing countries, like China, while embodied trade aggravates arsenic environmental emissions in major exporting countries, like Peru and Chile. The trade-related arsenic pollution transfer calls for a rational arsenic emission responsibility-sharing mechanism and corresponding policy recommendations for different trading countries.

Forecasting Turkish electricity consumption: A critical analysis of single and hybrid models

Forecasting of electricity consumption is a critical issue, due to its importance in the planning of the energy trading countries. Several new techniques such as hybrid models are used as well as classical single models to estimate electricity consumption. This study aims to get the best electricity consumption model of Türkiye. For this, the forecasting performances of single and hybrid electricity consumption models, SARIMA is the time series model, ANNs and MLPs are machine learning single models and SARIMA-ANNs and SARIMA-MLPs are hybrid models of machine learning, are compared. This study employs new hybrid models and examines whether the multiplicative model of Wang et al. or the combined model of Khashei and Bijari is superior to than Zhang's hybrid model commonly used as the ARIMA-hybrid model with well known flaws. The results show that hybrid models are more accurate than single time series/machine learning models when forecasting Turkish electricity consumption. Moreover, The Khashei and Bijari hybrid model outperformed the other models and it was determined as the best model for forecasting Türkiye's electricity consumption.

International trade in food and agro-based products in the time of COVID-19

The aim of the study is to examine the regional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its individual waves on foreign trade in food and agro-based products in the world’s largest trading countries. The study was based on the statistical database of the International Trade Centre (ITC). In addition to the basic analysis, use was made of the auto- correlation method to detect special relationships between foreign food trade of different countries. The results show that the pandemic has had the greatest impact on agricultural and food trade in the United States, but it has spilled over to other countries as well, especially its two major trading partners, the European Union and China. Food trade stagnated in the initial period of the pandemic, but later recovered relatively well. The six examined regions can be divided into three groups based on the typical features of their autocorrelation.

External Value of the Currency and Its Impact on Exports and Imports.

The external value of the currency is considered one of the channels of Economic conflict between countries, and to understand the extent to which the level of foreign trade of countries can be affected, the subject was studied by addressing the case of Algeria as an applied part of the study, where we studied the impact of the euro and the dollar on foreign trade in Algeria, so we reviewed the impact of these two. The two currencies affect Algerian exports and imports. The results of the study showed that there is no strong impact of the exchange rate of the dollar against the euro on Algeria’s exports and imports, due to the nature of the period studied on the one hand and the inflexibility of Algerian imports on the other hand

Impacts of Regional Integration and Market Liberalization on Bilateral Trade Balances of Selected East African Countries: Potential Implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area

This study examined the effect of free trade on intra-African bilateral trade balances for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania to assess the potential implications of the African Continental Free Trade area. The four countries have experienced persistent trade deficits. Whether free trade within Africa can improve the national trade balances, and the drivers of bilateral trade balances are important questions for policy and strategic programmes for the countries to make the most gains from free trade area. The econometric model estimated for each country is an extension of the standard Keynesian model of trade balance to include determinants of bilateral trade flows from the gravity model. Quantitative analysis using panel regression was augmented with qualitative data from interviews with trade policy experts and trade officials from various African countries and focus group discussions with small-scale cross-border traders at the Busia and Namanga border posts in East Africa. Findings show that complete tariff elimination on intra–African trade may not impact the bilateral trade balances of Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania but could improve bilateral trade balances for Uganda by 6 percent. Within the free trade areas, Uganda’s bilateral trade balances were higher within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa but lower within the East African Community, than outside these areas. Kenya’s trade balances were lower in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, than otherwise. On the contrary, no significant difference in trade balances is established for the membership of Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania in the East African Community; Rwanda in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; and Tanzania in the Southern African Development Community, when compared to trade balances with non-members. The importance of macroeconomic factors is demonstrated by the increase in bilateral trade balances with higher relative price levels of trade partners; the reduction with increase in relative production and expenditure capacities of trade partners; and improvements following a depreciation of home currency for Tanzania and Uganda, yet a worsening of trade balances in Kenya. A lack of harmony in documents required for cross-border movements within the free trade areas is reported as counterproductive. All African countries should therefore fully implement protocols and cooperate in the harmonization of trade procedures for the free movement of people and goods across borders. Country policies and trade programmes should pursue increased productivity in the leading intra-African export sectors and diversify exports via foreign direct investment in strategic sectors to substitute imports from outside Africa; reduce costs of production; increase the quality of products; and improve transport infrastructure.

Study on the current situation and influencing factors of corn import trade in China – based on the trade gravity model

Abstract With the rapid development of China’s economy and society, the income level of Chinese residents is increasing day by day, and the dietary consumption structure of domestic residents is constantly optimized and upgraded. The consumption demand for livestock products such as meat, eggs and milk, and corn starch industrial products is increasing day by day. Therefore, as the main raw material of feed industry and deep processing owners, the consumption scale of China corn market is constantly expanding. However, the corresponding domestic corn production scale has not expanded, and the domestic corn production presents an obvious problem of insufficient supply scale, which leads to a sharp and rapid increase in the number of corn imports in China, which seriously impacts the domestic corn market and affects China’s healthy development of corn industry. In recent years, the continuous spread of the COVID-19 epidemic has seriously affected the global grain production and trade. The fierce military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the two major grain exporting countries, has once again brought a serious adverse impact on the supply and price of the global grain market, resulting in an increase in the import cost of corn in China and a change in the import pattern of corn in China. In this regard, this study analyzes the current situation of corn production and import trade in China, and based on the relevant trade data between China and major corn importing countries from 2013 to 2022, establishes a trade gravity model to quantitatively evaluate the main factors affecting China’s corn import trade, and analyzes the trade potential of sample countries. It was found that in 2022, China’s import and export trade volume and trade value were 20.62 million tons and 7.11 billion US dollars, respectively, compared with 2013, trade volume and trade volume increased by 6.3 times. Statistics on the potential types of various trading countries showed that the proportion of potential countries was 14.2%, and Brazil had the greatest potential in China’s corn import trade. The proportion of potential expanding countries is about 71.4%, and Laos is a mature country with less opportunities for further development. In order to promote the benign development of the domestic corn industry and the development of China’s corn import trade, this paper puts forward a series of countermeasure suggestions based on the above research.

Drivers of international fiscal spillovers

AbstractThis paper investigates the drivers of international fiscal spillovers across 62 countries for the period covering 1970–2021. Using the local projections method at the country‐pair level, fiscal spillovers are estimated as the cumulative response of the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in spillover destination countries to a unit shock in the real government spending growth in spillover source countries. Pairwise estimation results (for 3782 country pairs) suggest that there are statistically significant fiscal spillovers for 36% of country pairs, whereas this ratio is 49% for country pairs within the euro area. For the median country pair, a unit shock of real government spending growth in the spillover source country results in about 0.09% of the increase in the real GDP growth of the spillover destination country, whereas this fiscal‐spillover estimate goes up to 0.42% when the spillover source is in the euro area, and the spillover destination is an oil producing country. A secondary investigation based on the Heckman selection model is used to identify the drivers of fiscal spillovers across country pairs, where the existence of statistically significant fiscal spillovers is shown to be connected to the proximity between countries. The size of fiscal spillovers is further shown to increase with the initial (as of 1970) country size, trade openness, and government size of the spillover source country, whereas it decreases with the initial country size and trade openness of the spillover destination country. Important policy suggestions follow.

Does international trade improve carbon productivity? Evidence from countries along the Belt and Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China has significantly increased trade in countries along the Belt and Road (B&R). Since most of these countries are developing and emerging economies, the pressure to reduce carbon emissions poses a leading challenge for them. Carbon productivity has become a key indicator for assessing the degree of low-carbon development, as it can link economic development with CO2 emission reduction. However, few studies have investigated how international trade affects carbon productivity. Based on panel data from 43 countries along the B&R during 2001-2019, this paper uses a system GMM model to explore the impact of international trade on carbon productivity. Then, we divide the 43 countries in the sample into two groups according to their income levels to compare the different effects of international trade on carbon productivity. The results show that, first, the carbon productivity of the examined B&R countries has an overall increasing trend, and there is a significant heterogeneity of carbon productivity among countries with different income levels. Second, the effects of international trade, export, and import on carbon productivity are all significantly positive, and export's effect is higher than import. In the high-income group, carbon productivity is more likely to be improved by trade than in the middle (low)-income group. Third, economic development level, urbanization, and energy productivity are positively associated with carbon productivity, while CO2 per capita and government size inhibit carbon productivity improvement. Insight into the impact of international trade on carbon productivity provides theoretical support for B&R countries to better leverage foreign trade activities to achieve a green economy.

ISLAMIC ECONOMIC REVIEW ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MUDHARABAH MUTHLAQOH AGREEMENTS IN INDONESIAN HAJJ SAVINGS PRODUCTS AT BSI (BANK SYARIAH INDONESIA) M. KHOLIL BANGKALAN BRANCH

Abstract: The research with the title "Islamic Economic Overview of the Implementation of Mudharabah Muthlaqoh Agreements in Indonesian Hajj Savings Products at BSI (Bank Syariah Indonesia) M. Kholil Bangkalan Branch" has the aim of finding out how the contracts contained in Hajj savings products at BSI Bangkalan are implemented which will later be analyzed with Islamic economic theory. In this research, descriptive research is applied using a qualitative approach, and the method used to collect data is in the form of interviews and documentation, the data analysis method applies descriptive qualitative analysis. The results of the research show that in accordance with the pillars and conditions, namely for people who carry out contracts, namely capital owners and capital managers, it is implied that they must be competent to act. Mudarabah is absolute, capital owners do not bind property managers to trade in certain countries, trade certain goods and at certain times. The capital or goods handed over are in the form of cash which acts as a transaction tool in a country. It has been implemented well and in accordance with existing administration. The profits obtained are only intended for the party entering into the agreement. The percentage distribution of profits that will belong to the manager and capital owners must be clear according to the agreement, for example half, one third, or one quarter. Ijab and kabul are carried out with clear and implied shi'gat accompanied by stating the distribution of profits firmly and clearly. If it is not stated clearly then the contract is invalid. This has also been stated in the agreement file which was agreed at the beginning when carrying out transactions at BSI Bangkalan between the customer and BSI. So overall the requirements in Islamic economics regarding the implementation of mudharabah contracts have been implemented well. So the researcher can conclude that BSI Bangkalan is in accordance with Islamic economics in implementing the mudharabah muthlaqoh agreement on Hajj savings products. Keywords:Mudharabah Muthlaqoh, Hajj Savings, Islamic Economics

An Assessment Methodology for International Hydrogen Competitiveness: Seven Case Studies Compared

Currently, the global energy structure is undergoing a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, with the hydrogen economy playing a pivotal role. Hydrogen is not only an important energy carrier needed to achieve the global goal of energy conservation and emission reduction, it represents a key object of the future international energy trade. As hydrogen trade expands, nations are increasingly allocating resources to enhance the international competitiveness of their respective hydrogen industries. This paper introduces an index that can be used to evaluate international hydrogen competitiveness and elucidate the most competitive countries in the hydrogen trade. To calculate the competitiveness scores of seven major prospective hydrogen market participants, we employed the entropy weight method. This method considers five essential factors: potential resources, economic and financial base, infrastructure, government support and institutional environment, and technological feasibility. The results indicate that the USA and Australia exhibit the highest composite indices. These findings can serve as a guide for countries in formulating suitable policies and strategies to bolster the development and international competitiveness of their respective hydrogen industries.

Acceleration of diversification of foreign trade relations of Central-Eastern European countries in crisis periods and the role of Russia in this process

Aim. To show the acceleration of diversification of trade relations diversification of Central­Eastern European (CEE) countries in crisis periods (2009-2012, 2017-2023) and to determine the importance of Russia in this process.Objectives. To analyze the dynamics of the main indicators of trade of CEE countries with some regions of the world, including China and Russia.Methods. The authors applied such research methods as statistical analysis, generalization, description and graphical modeling.Results. The results of the analysis show that as the foreign trade potential of the European Union (EU) closed market is exhausted, CEE countries are forced to diversify their trade rela­tions, expanding them towards other regions of the world.Conclusions. The diversification process intensifies in times of crisis, when conditions for regular cooperation within the EU deteriorate due to the economic downturn. This can be traced back to the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 and is happening now (2022-2024), in the context of geopolitical tensions. Along with the decreasing share of the EU in the CEE countries' trade turnover, their trade interaction with other regions, mainly with Asia, is ex­panding. Among the countries targeted by the CEE diversification vector, one can single out China with the largest volume of mutual trade and Russia, whose importance has sharply de­clined in recent years due to the harsh sanctions imposed against it.

Analysis of Sunflower and Oilseed Rape Competitiveness in the Conditions of Slovakia and Czech Republic

Abstract The paper primarily deals with the development of agriculture in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic, analyzes the agricultural sector in the period 2012–2022 and examines in more detail agriculture, its plant production, especially oilseeds. Attention is given to brief information on the development and situation of the sunflower and oilseed rape, where we focus on the analysis of the development of selected indicators during the observed period, such as production, area sown, yields. Within our research we deal with the concept of competitiveness, using the appropriate indicators. Based on the data, via analysis we quantified the value of Revealed Comparative Advantage index (RCA) and Competitiveness Growth Index (RCA 1). The development of society and the opening of borders between individual states caused the development of foreign trade. Membership in the European Union meant for Slovak and Czech foreign trade the relinquishment of sovereignty in this areas and the adoption of a common trade policy that establishes rules for foreign trade within member countries, but also towards third countries. At the same time, however, Slovak Republic and Czech Republic gained access to the single internal market, which is of significant importance for foreign trade of countries.