This paper examines the global competitiveness of Pakistan’s fruit exports (dates, mangoes, and oranges), using revealed comparative advantage (RCA). It also analyzes domestic consumption trends among selected fruits grown by major exporters. Our results indicate that Pakistan has a comparative advantage in fruit exports. Comparing the movement in comparative advantage indices for Pakistan with those of its main exporters/competitors demonstrates that Pakistan has a relatively high comparative and competitive advantage in the production of dates and mangoes. The increasing trend of competitiveness in Pakistan indicates that there is potential for higher growth; given that fruit exports are a potential source of higher exports earnings, there is a need to strengthen competitiveness in this sector.

The Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) methodology was used to determine the level of economic efficiency and competitiveness in the production of rice crops in Pakistan’s Punjab. The methodology was also used to assess the effect of policy intervention on the production of Basmati and IRRI rice crops. The results indicate that an expansion of the production of Basmati rice can lead to an increase in exports. The production of IRRI in Pakistan’s Punjab is characterized by a lack of economic efficiency implying inefficient use of resources to produce the commodity. On the other hand, both Basmati and IRRI rice production in the Punjab demonstrate a lack of competitiveness at the farm level for the period under analysis. The analysis shows that the prevailing incentive structure affected farmers negatively. A negative divergence between private and social profits implies that the net effect of policy intervention is to reduce the farm level profitability of both rice production systems in Punjab. The results highlight the need for removing existing policy distortions in the structure of economic incentives to enhance economic efficiency and to attain farm level competitiveness in rice production.

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Since, Pakistan is bound to follow the international agreement drafted by WTO (World Trade Organization) to formulate trade policy which should be based on comparative and competitive advantages in the international economy, therefore the present study was designed to examine the specialization and competitiveness of Pakistan’s major crops.  For this purpose, Bela’ Balassa’s (1965) indexes of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) were employed, and moreover, secondary data from reliable sources related to crops from 1980 to 2013 were extensively utilized. The major findings of this research study revealed that Pakistan has a strong comparative and competitive advantage in rice, onion, dates, mango, mangoes- teen and guava during the period ranging from 1980 to 2013. Similarly, Pakistan has higher competitiveness in rice and mango at international level. Results also indicated that Pakistan has been facing disadvantages in potatoes during 1980 to 1997, and banana during 1980 to 2009, however, it was maintained but these vegetables/fruits have no competitiveness in the international market. The present study concludes that Pakistan has an excellent capability (being and agriculturally based economy) of higher growth of these products; therefore, these agricultural items could prove themselves a good source for Pakistan to earn higher foreign exchange.

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