An Analysis of International Competitiveness of Turkey‘s Cheese Sector in Comparison with European Union Countries

Abstract

Cheese, in addition to being a rich foodstuff regarding protein and calcium, has an important place in international trade. Cheese export consists 40.3% of the world‘s dairy products exports. European Union countries such as Germany, Netherland, France, Italy and Denmark, in addition to the USA, New Zealand and Australia have an important market share in international cheese trade. Germany, Netherland, France, Italy and Denmark export 54.8% of the world and 71.8% of European Union total cheese export in 2016. Turkey is in 25th place in the world ranking with exports value of $150 million in 2016. About 45.0% of Turkey's dairy products are exported in the form of cheese exports. Turkey and EU are also net exporters in international cheese trade. The objective of this study is to analyze the competitiveness of Turkey's cheese sector and compare with EU-28 and selected European Union Countries like Germany, Netherland, France, Italy and Denmark. The data for this study were provided by the International Trade Centre database for the period 2001-2016. Balassa and Vollrath‘s Indexes were used for measuring the international competitiveness level of Turkey in the cheese sector. In addition to these indexes, Trade Balance Index was also used for comparison. The results revealed that the average RXA, RTA, RC and TBI scores for Turkey were 0.44, 0.34, 1.51 and 0.49, and for EU-28 were 2.21, 0.34, 0.17 and 0,10 respectively. Although Turkey has a comparative advantages in the international cheese trade, the EU is more comparative advantageous than Turkey.