Competition Power of Turkey's Honey Export and Comparison With Balkan Countries

Abstract

Beekeeping is one of the oldest agricultural activities in the world. This activity, which is performed traditionally in some countries, has significant functions such as increasing income of producers and contributing to pollution crop production. Turkey has significant potential in honey production with proper ecology, rich flora and material genetic variation in bees. Determining the level of export competitiveness of honey in Turkey and comparing it with that of Balkan Countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Moldavia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia) for 2001-2015 periods, was the major aim of this study. The competitiveness level of honey export was calculated using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index and Trade Balance Index (TBI). The data of this study was provided from International Trade Centre (INTRACEN) database. The results revealed that the average RCA and TBI scores for Turkey were 1.86 and 0.86, respectively. The findings shows that despite of weak comparative advantage, Turkey is still a net exporter country in honey export. According to the average RCA scores, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia have strong, Croatia and Greece have low, and Republic of Macedonia has a weak comparative advantage in honey export while Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia have no comparative advantage in honey export.