How has "Turkey's Africa Strategy" been Affecting Turkey's Exports to Africa?: Evidence from Firm Level Data for 2003-2012

Abdullah Emre Akel

No 332516, Conference papers from Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to examine whether "Turkey's Africa Strategy" has significant contributions to Turkey’s exports to Africa in the last decade or not. In this context, a descriptive firmlevel analysis, which uses a number of definitions such as “Firm Entry, Exit and Survival Rates”, as well as the breakdown of Turkey’s exports to Africa by “Intensive and Extensive Margins of Exports” using annual firm-product-country level data for 2003-2012 is implemented to bring out characteristics of Turkish exports to Africa in detail. The results suggest that although Turkey’s Africa Strategy has been successful in creating awareness among Turkish SMEs to direct their attention to Africa, Turkish exporters cannot survive in the African market. In addition, new exporters’ contribution to Turkey’s exports to Africa is limited in each year, while the main source of the exports growth are the changes in intensive margin, where short-term survivors have the key role. Concerning most of the exporters to Africa, share of exports to Africa in their total exports is below 20%, while their main exports destinations are the EU and Middle East countries. Besides, exporters’ interest in Africa is still concentrated into the North African countries, although there is an increasing market diversification into the South. It turns out that increasing interest and activities of Turkey’s competitors in Africa, especially those of China and India, makes it harder for Turkish exporters to survive in the market. Hence, Turkey needs to reconsider its Africa Strategy while taking into account its competitors’ strategies for sustainable economic relations in the continent.

Keywords: International Relations/Trade; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42
Date: 2014
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