The Change of Comparative Advantage of Agricultural Activities in East Java Within the Context of ASEAN Economic Integration

This paper analyzes changes on agricultural trade patterns of East Java, Indonesia, versus six main ASEAN exporter countries. Based on the trade flow information, there are some dynamics of comparative advantage and export specialization from 2007 to 2013 in the 545 commodities comprising the agricultural sector. Products are mapped into four-different quadrants according to their level of comparative advantage and export specialization. Advantage-specialization appears to be an important feature of agro-trade for ASEAN countries because most of the growth in exports is under those competitive commodities. Little diversification towards new products has been found in the recent years. Gains appear to be larger than the losses due to international openness, while opportunities within the region have not been exploited. Agro-trade in the region still focuses towards extra-ASEAN and enjoys high levels of advantage- specialization in some key commodities. A large number of commodities were found to have little competition within ASEAN.

Keywords: Revealed comparative advantage, manufacturing, trade balance, factor intensities and products mapping, international trade, ASEAN