The Resilience of Agricultural Comparative Advantage During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The agricultural sector is crucial for economies around the world, not only due to its role in ensuring food security, but also for capitalizing on the competitive advantages in a profitable and sustainable manner. The competitiveness of the agricultural sector has been highly debated in the literature. There are many welldeveloped methods for quantifying the different facets of agricultural competitiveness, most of which have a strong economic valence. One of the facets of competitiveness is resilience, the capacity to withstand the challenges that occur during periods of crisis while maintaining initial functions, if not improving them. Although the competitiveness of the agricultural sector has caught the attention of scholars, the literature is not abundant in studies dedicated to the analysis of the resilience of the agricultural sector's competitiveness. Thus, this study was aimed at bringing its contribution to the literature by tapping into the resilience of the agricultural comparative advantage in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this research was to assess Romania's agricultural comparative advantage and its associated resilience levels in the face of the negative effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the global agri-food supply chains by resorting to the Balassa index. Data were extracted from the International Trade Center INTRACEN database and used to calculate the revealed comparative advantage for two different periods: before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings showed that tobacco-based products were the most resilient and not only did those products maintain their level of competitiveness, but they also managed to become more competitive. On the other hand, although Romania is highly competitive in terms of exporting cereals, the resilience of this agri-food category proved to be poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same was observed in the case of oil seeds and oleaginous fruits. The drought from 2020 significantly contributed to these unfavorable results for Romania. This paper provides support and assists decision makers in the process of adopting measures aimed at increasing the resilience and competitiveness of the Romanian agricultural sector.