THE COMPETITIVENESS OF GRAPE AND BANANA EXPORTS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL FROM 1997 TO 2021
International Competitiviness, Fruits, Brazil northwest, shift share, gravitational model.
Fruit production in Brazil has stood out either for its internal dynamism or for its growing role in international trade. Especially in the northeast region, exports of grapes and bananas have a high share in the market and worldwide and, therefore, are of great importance for its economy. This work intends to analyze the competitiveness of Northeastern grape and banana exports in the period between 1997 and 2021, seeking to understand the determinants of exports, and the comparative advantages of such sectors in the region. Two different methodologies will be used. The first, Shift Share, will allow decomposing the value of exports to capture the origin of the effects on the competitiveness of the Northeast in relation to the two products. The second methodological approach will be the application of a gravitational model to analyze the causes of the export performance of such fruits produced in the Brazilian Northeast considering a panel of annual data from 1997 to 2021. The work intends to contribute to the knowledge of the current situation and the potential of grapes and bananas produced in the Brazilian Northeast in relation to the international market, allowing both exporting agents and the State to have greater decision-making capacity. Likewise, the work will contribute to the empirical literature on the determinants of exports by employing for the first time such methodological techniques to study the grape and banana sectors in the Northeast.