Exports of Mangoes from Pakistan: Determinants and Competitiveness

Abstract

Pakistan, with limited export commodities and markets, grapples with a persistent trade deficit, making its agricultural sector pivotal to the economy. This study delves into the contemporary economic concept of competitiveness, aiming to evaluate and identify determinants influencing the export of mangoes—a significant contributor to the agricultural GDP at 2.48%. Comparative advantage, rather than competitive profit, serves as a more apt term in the realm of trade theory. In this research both time series and panel data was used. The data was collected from secondary sources from multiple sites and main among these were UN-FAO, AMIS, WDI and WITS. Gravity models were used to find the determinants that provided estimation of exports between the Pakistan and other countries. The variables studied in this research were export quantity, export value and export price between Pakistan and its major exporters. Collected data was analyzed through appropriate statistical technique using RCA indices and their extensions. Findings of the study were expected to be helpful in developing some strategies to increase exports of mango from Pakistan. The determinants nominal GDP’s for both Pakistan and importing countries, exchange rate and mango area evaluated for mango were significant. This research results showed that Pakistan is quite stable in mango production and much more efforts are needed to ensure and maximize improvements in export of varieties of mango production.