Export competitiveness of selected agricultural products of the Philippines

The Philippines is facing major challenges and competition from ASEAN co-member countries in agricultural exports in the international market. The main objective of this study is to give an overall view and assessment of the level of competitiveness of the Philippines agricultural sector in the international market. To examine the export competitiveness of agricultural products between the Philippines and ASEAN co-member countries, Revealed Comparative Trade Advantage Index and Market Share Index Analyses were used. Analyses found that for the aggregated agricultural products the Philippines does not have a strong revealed comparative trade advantage position against ASEAN co-member countries. Meanwhile, the Philippines had completely dominated Coconut Oil, Banana and Pineapple international market and found to be the most competitive country among ASEAN co-member countries. In general, it is necessary for the Philippine government and the private sector to give a great effort in boosting the agriculture sector and high-level investments need to be strengthened to diversify the agricultural export products. Furthermore, the study has revealed that majority of ASEAN member countries had a strong comparative advantage in vegetable products, and some had revealed comparative advantage in specialized products. Thus, developing common agricultural trade policies would be very beneficial to all ASEAN co-member countries, which is also in line with the objectives of ASEAN.