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

Yıl 2013, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 95 - 107, 01.12.2013

Ahmad Assadzadeh Davood Behbudi Neda Faghani Miyarkolaie Hamid Mahmoudi Moghadam

Öz

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.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Textile and clothing export, revealed comparative advantage, trade mapping