Competitiveness of Turkey in organic exports to the European Union market

The exports of organically produced agricultural products in Turkey have been rapidly growing, particularly in response to an increasing demand for organic products in European Union countries. The common view and findings of research in organic trade in Turkey confirm that the European market is expanding. There is a missing focus in the prevailing research on this issue. None of the studies have focused on modelling the exports market for organic products in order to estimate price and income elasticities for these goods; this would enable an analysis of the issue for the derivation of policy implications. Another related missing focus in the present research literature is the lack of understanding of the current competitiveness of Turkish exports in the European Union market and the sources of this competitiveness. The paper has three major objectives and, thus, seeks to produce three outputs: The first objective is to explore Turkey's export competitiveness in organic products in the European Union market. In order to fulfill this objective, we will estimate the indices measuring competitiveness of Turkish organic products. The second objective is to uncover the components of export performance. Through constant market share analysis, we seek to determine the key factors underlying the growth or Turkish organic exports. Finally, the third objective is to estimate an export demand model for these products in the European Union market. Thus, it will be possible to estimate price and income elasticities of demand as well as make projections. The study reveals that export demand for Turkish organic products in European Union market is growing, and exports to the European Union market are sensitive to the price and income changes of the target countries. Turkey has a clear comparative advantage versus the competitor EU countries in selected products. Competitiveness, in particularly, relies on relative prices, and thus, does not suggest any sustainability