A STUDY OF THE REVEALED COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRIES BETWEEN IRAN AND TURKEY

Abstract

The paper investigates revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and trade map index (TM) for the textile and clothing industries between Iran and Turkey during 2001-2009. The results of the RCA indicated that, Iran recorded a relatively weak comparative advantage in the export of textile industry and no comparative advantage in the clothing industry for a short period from 2001 to 2003, while Turkey recorded a strong comparative advantage in both textile and clothing industries during the whole period. Given the fact that the two counties are neighbors and both have access to each other’s markets makes us conclude that Iranian textile and clothing industries will be the net loser. Estimating TM index illustrated that in both textile and clothing industries the world market have been declining. Based on the TM index, while Iran has been a loser, in contrast, Turkey has been a winner in both industries. Thus, Iran needs better comprehension of the world market and requires taking necessary steps through marketing, adoption of new technology and quality improvement in order to assert its place in the world market of the textile and clothing industry.

Keywords

• Textile and clothing export, revealed comparative advantage, trade mapping