Export Competitiveness of Bulgarian Food and Beverage Industry: Perspectives and Policy Measures

Diana Kopeva, Paskal Zhelev, Nikolay Shterev, Dimitar Blagoev

Abstract: Over the last ten years, the international competitiveness of Bulgaria’s agro-food industry has significantly increased. It is characterized with high export growth, positive trade balance, increase of world market share, and strengthening of the comparative advantages. The structure of Bulgaria’s agro-food exports is very low diversified, and still with high dependence on cereals and oil-seeds. The aim of the paper is to develop scenarios for future development of export competitiveness, and, on the basis of conducted analysis, to draw policy measures to strengthen the export competitiveness of the Bulgarian agro-food industry. The analysis is based on international trade data for the 24 groups of agro-food products defined under the HS (chapters 01–24) and its four-digit code breakdown. The trade approach has been most intensively used to evaluate competitiveness at a sectoral level. The following trade indicators are used: export growth; product structure and diversification; market share; and revealed comparative advantage. Following Gehlhar-Pick (2002) and using unit value difference and trade balance, Bulgaria’s foreign trade with food products is disentangled in 4 categories:
• Successful price competition (trade surplus at lower export than import unit value);
• Unsuccessful price competition (trade deficit at lower export than import unit value);
• Successful quality competition (trade surplus at higher export than import unit value);
• Unsuccessful quality competition (trade deficit at higher export than import unit value).
Potential scenarios for future development and respective policy measures are elaborated for each category of food products.

Keywords: competitiveness; export; food industry

Date published: 2018-01-31