ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS OF THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY: THE GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF THE APRICOT INDUSTRY IN TAJIKISTAN
This article examines the exports competitiveness of food processing industry in Tajikistan and determine the opportunities for the sector to upgrade. The dried apricot industry promises a high export potential for the country's food industry. Tajikistan holds an important position in global apricot value chain, and in 2016 the country was ranked as a second large exporter of the dried apricot in the world with 17.200 metric tons (FAO, 2019). The bulk of Tajik dried apricot export destination is Russia’s markets. Russian consumers pay a premium price for Tajik dried apricot unlike those from other imported countries, except Turkey. Therefore, Tajik producers always compete with Turkey in the Russian markets. Although the price of Tajik dried apricots are relatively cheaper, Turkish dried apricots are superior in the markets in term of sales and demand. Given this background, this research investigates the value chain analysis and compares the export cost structure of Tajik and Turkish producers, as well as the cost structure of the Russian dried apricot producers who are engaged in supply of dried apricots to the domestic markets. The result of the research shows that the poor package design and lack of packaging facilities make the local products cheap and unattractive. As a result, the local products suffer from a packaging quality gap in the international markets. We suggest to Tajik producers to upgrade the design and packaging facilities and the skills of local producers to supply higher quality and competitive products to the international markets.