TÜRKİYE'S INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS AND EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN THE TEXTILE SECTOR: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH THE WORLD'S TOP TEXTILE EXPORTER COUNTRIES

The textile industry plays a pioneering role in the development of developing countries. Türkiye in Eurasia, Germany and Italy in Europe, the United States in North America, China, India, Pakistan, Twain ve South Korea in Asia are among prominent countries in the textile sector. The textile industry maintains its importance in developed countries as well as developing countries. The aim of this study is to examine the competitiveness of the textile sector, which is one of the locomotive sectors in Türkiye and its export performance over rival countries which are the prominent countries in the textile export in the world market. Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index and Comparative Export Performance (CEP) Index were used in this study. RCA and CEP indices were calculated using data obtained from Uncomtrade database for the period 2001-2020. According to the calculated Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index results, It was determined that Türkiye had a competitive advantage in two-digit textile product group SITC 65 and in 7 of the 9 three-digit sub-product groups SITC (652, 653, 655, 656, 657,658, 659) had a competitive advantage, while the competitiveness in the SITC 651 sub-product group remained at the marginal limit. According to result of Comparative Export Performance Index, It was seen that Turkey has an advantage in export against all analyzed countries except Pakistan in SITC two-digit textile product group