Competitiveness of Indian Agricultural Commodities – Constant Market Share Analysis

Export competitiveness of a country in transacting agricultural commodities mainly depend upon three factors, viz., growth in demand in importing countries, competitiveness of the commodity in the international market and focus country’s export share matching the demand requirements in importing countries. In this paper, the export growth of five major commodities viz., rice milled-equivalent, maize, chickpea, cotton lint and chillies and peppers, dry is decomposed through employing Constant Market Share Analysis (CMSA) into broad components and its sub components. The findings revealed that the exports of selected commodities, especially cotton lint and chillies and peppers, dry showed considerable growth during overall reference period. CMSA results showed that SE is dominant for export growth of rice milled-equivalent, SOE influenced the export growth for maize, chickpea and chillies and peppers, dry and CE accounted for export growth of cotton lint from India during overall reference period. The findings also inferred that cost-effective production, quality product, prompt shipments and assured delivery of the product in right time are the key factors for influencing export growth. So, India has to adopt dual strategy through concentrating on traditional markets by increasing export competitiveness and explore new markets for future export strategy.