Competitiveness indicators of Mexican bananas in the international market

Resumen

Objective: To analyze the variables and indicators of banana trade in the international market.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The revealed comparative advantage index of exports (RCAIE), the revealed comparative advantage index (RCAI), and the normalized revealed comparative advantage index (NRCAI) were used to analyze the competitiveness of Mexican bananas from 1994 to 2021.

Results: Mexico is one of the main banana exporters worldwide. Its main export destinations are the USA and Japan which consumed 84% and 15% of the Mexican production, respectively. The RCAI recorded positive values, showing that Mexican banana exports are competitive in the international market. This product is competitive in the American and Japanese markets and is more stable in the former. The >0 RCAIE confirmed that Mexico is a competitive country and one of the main banana exporters of the world.

Study Limitations/Implications: Competitiveness was analyzed based on a databases query from international organizations. These export databases have a delay of up to 2-3 years and part of the data showed significant differences.

Findings/Conclusions: Mexico is a competitive banana exporter worldwide. Based on the RCAI and NRCAI, the American and Japanese markets are the most competitive. However, Mexico exports a lower banana volume to Japan than to the USA.