Specialization and Foreign Trade in Agriculture Sector: A Study on the MINT Countries

Agriculture sector is one of the key sectors of MINT economies. It is plays an important role in MINT’s foreign trade and economic development. In the last 15 years, the export of agricultural food products has grown more than 3 times. Today, MINT countries are major producer and exporter of many agricultural food products. In this study examined the comparative advantage and specialization level of agricultural products of MINT economies. In the study used the Balassa index and the Lafay index. Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding system is used in this study. In the study used International Trade Centre statistical data for the period 2002-2015. Results show that Indonesia has the greatest comparative advantage in animal, vegetable fats and oils while Mexico in fresh vegetables and Nigeria have a comparative advantage cocoa and cocoa preparation. Turkey has the greatest comparative advantage in milling products and fresh fruits