An analysis of the performance of chilean aquacultural exports (1995-2005)

Exchange rate and market liberalization policies put in place by recent Chilean administrations with the stated goal of promoting exports in both traditional and non-traditional sectors have resulted in a relative boom for the aquacultural activities in particular. The farming of salmon is well known, and less traditional exports in this area are beginning to play a larger role in the performance of the Chilean economy as a whole. This paper's objective is the analysis of the performance of the Chilean aquacultural exports for the period 1995-2005, as a complement of a previous work on agricultural exports. The performance of several indicators of specialization (revealed comparative advantage and contribution to the trade balance), commerce structure (share of exports of the selected items to the total of exports) and competitiveness (indices of sector participation and market share) of each export category was analyzed. Eleven categories of the Harmonized System were reduced to six: salmon, fish fillets, seaweed, scallops, mussels and aquatic invertebrates. The performance of the world's top exporter in each category was also included in the analysis. A relatively high level of specialization of aquacultural exports for Chile and its main competitors in almost all categories, with exceptions, is inferred. Trends incompetitiveness that may help take remedial measures where needed are revealed. These results may prove useful for those responsible of implementing policies with beneficial effect for the sector and the economy as a whole.