The Competitiveness of China's Honey in Target International Markets Compared with Argentina

Honey is a significant product in China's production, consumption, and export. Determining the competitiveness of China's honey in international markets is important for understanding honey's relative position in China's agriculture and the development for its agribusiness firms. The objective of this paper is to measure the competitiveness of honey from China compared with that of Argentina in the target markets of the United States (US), Japan, and European Union (EU). We use four indices to assess the competitiveness: the Target Market Share (TMS), Unit Import Price (UIP), Quality Competition Index (QCI), and Regional Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantages (RRSCA). China's honey is less competitive than honey from Argentina in the US and EU markets. Increased domestic demand, appreciation of the Chinese Yuan (CNY) and governmental trade policies are among factors that have affected the global honey trade.