Comércio e competitividade das exportações do Benim : uma análise do período 2001-2017

Abstract

Benin has been increasing its exports in recent decades and such increases are generally characterized by the concentration of products from the agricultural sector. The process of opening trade has brought great benefit to the export sector, noting that entering the world market is a growth strategy. On the other hand, the availability of labor and other productive factors, government decision-making and investment in the export sector determine the country's insertion in the world market by the search for competitiveness. The objective of this research is to characterize the Beninese export sector and how it has been behaving over the period from 2001 to 2017. Benin's exports are characterized by agricultural products, given the growth of these products in the export basket that may face the demand of the international market and may be affected by the effects caused by the instability of the world market. Indicators were used to reveal the competitiveness of products on the market. In view of this research, several trade indicators were used as a tool to analyze the competitiveness of exports, such as the indicator of revealed comparative advantage, contribution to the trade balance, intra-industry trade, export concentration, revealed competitiveness, position and regional orientation. In addition to these indices, the Constant Market Share model was applied to know the sources of variation of exports, with emphasis on the analysis of the competitiveness effect. In order to characterize the export sector in a qualitative way, this one was also analyzed from the perspective of Porter's five forces. After these procedures, it was found that primary products from the agricultural sector reveal a competitive advantage in the market, especially cotton and cashew. On the other hand, the mineral sector did not reveal as much advantage, related to the insufficiency of policies directed to the sector.