COMPETITIVENESS IN THE EXPORT DEMAND FOR NIGERIAN RUBBER

Abstract

The study examined the degree of competitiveness in the export demand for Nigerian rubber with focus on the Spanish Market. The study covered the periods of 1961 – 2010 and data comprised national aggregates. Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) approach was used in the estimation after instrumenting for simultaneity and establishing stationarity cum cointegration relationship. The outcome of the analysis showed that the demand for Nigerian rubber by Spain was affected negatively by export price of the commodity and income of the importing country. The coefficients of export price of the substitute crop and world production excluding participating countries traced out a positive relationship. The result further showed that there is relative competitiveness in the Spanish market on the strength of the Lerner index of 0.015. The study recommends the allocation of more resources to the export crop through deliberate budgetary allocation to the producing states and exchange rate stabilization policies are strongly advocated among others