Abstract:
This paper adopts the Normalized Revealed Comparative Advantage (NRCA) index
and data for the period 1961-2013 to examine comparative advantage among the leading
citrus exporters in the global market and draws implications for South Africa’s citrus
industry. Results reveal that Spain was the most competitive citrus exporter throughout
the review period. South Africa (SA) improved steadily over time from position four
to position two, surpassing Italy and Morocco in the process. Morocco, which ranked
between positions two and four, was also surpassed by Turkey, which improved from
position ten during the period 1961-1965 to position three during 2006-2010. Trend
analyses of the annual NRCA scores indicate that Turkey is on the verge of surpassing
SA in terms of competitiveness. Broadly, the results indicate that SA experienced
weakening comparative advantage during the apartheid era, owing partly to trade
sanctions by several European countries. With the end of apartheid and the subsequent
removal of the sanctions, the situation has vastly improved, further yielding a rise in SA
citrus competitiveness in the global market.
