Pakistan J. Agric. Res. Vol. 26 No. 2, 2013 EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS OF PAKISTANI HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS Waqar Akhtar*, Nadeem Akmal*, Hassnain Shah*, Muhammad Azam Niazi** and Ayesha Tahir* ABSTRACT:- This paper examines Pakistan's competitiveness in export of selected horticulture commodities by employing set of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and revealed competitive advantage indices with respect to global trade. Results demonstrate that Pakistan has comparative and competitive advantage over the period under analysis and indicates a transition from comparative and competitive disadvantage to comparative and competitive advantage during the period under analysis. Tangerines, mandarins, clem have maintained relatively higher revealed comparative advantage as compared to other categories for the whole period under analysis. Onion export has revealed comparative advantage with some fluctuations over time. The research indicates that Pakistan's comparative and competitive advantages have been increasing in all the selected commodities during period under analysis which indicates the potential of horticulture exports for foreign exchange earnings. There is need to strengthen comparative and competitive advantage in horticulture sector by policy support and facilitating role by all stakeholders. Key Words: Horticulture; Products; Revealed Comparative Advantage; Trade, Pakistan. * Social Sciences Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. ** Social Sciences Division, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan. Corresponding author: viqars71@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Horticulture in Pakistan has emerged an important sector contri- buting to the national agricultural GDP with 12% share during the last decade and produce large number of horticultural products to fulfill domestic demand of fruit and vege- tables for ever increasing population. The demand for fruits and vegetables is continuously increasing in local and export markets. Global horti- culture exports reached at $124 billion and Pakistan marginally contributed with worth of $0.24 billion with far less than one percent share in world export (FAO, 2009). Looking at the size and growing demand of horticulture exports in the world market there is great potential for increasing export of premium quality horticultural produce, from Pakistan if unachieved potential is realized. However it is an established fact that Pakistan is under perfor- ming as far as its horticulture exports are concerned. Pakistan horticulture sector is facing some basic issues like small- holding, poor export infrastructure and lack of processing facilities which are sources of limitation in improving horticulture industry from local base to export oriented. In the globalized world competitiveness of the sector is 87