Özet:

 International trade is one of the key factors of macroeconomic prosperity for any country. It is generally recognized that trade is essential for growth and that growth is critical for poverty reduction. In many nations in Africa where agriculture constitutes the largest portion of the economy and agricultural commodities figure prominently among the goods traded, international agricultural trade has been a notable motor of development. Agricultural trade is a generator of income and welfare for the millions of people who are directly or indirectly involved in it. Comparative advantage, one of the most celebrated concept/theory of economics, has globally dominated the field of international trade especially agricultural trade not only in academics but also in economic/development policy circles. Benin is one of the developing Sub-Saharan countries, of which the economic welfare depends essentially on agricultural trade. Agriculture contributes around 35 % in the country’s GDP and 80 % in the income generated by exports. By analysing the secondary cashew and cotton exports data retrieved from 1964 to 2014, three indices are calculated: the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), the Revealed Competitiveness (RC) and Comparative Export Performance (CEP). In doing so, this study aimed to analyse the competitiveness of Benin’s two main agricultural export commodities that are cotton and cashew. Accordingly, the position of Benin will be compared with its neighbour countries competitive markets in West Africa, where selected crops export play a huge role in their economy. Nigeria for cashew and Burkina-Faso for cotton will be selected for data analysing watching the last 50 years (1964-2014). The analysis is conducted respecting data availability of the competing countries. This comparison of Benin and its major partners would provide an assessment of export specialization of Benin as well.

Anahtar Kelimeler: