An Analysis of The Olive Export and The Importance of Turkey in The International Market by Using Network Analysis Approach

Olive production in the world is only made in certain regions. Turkey is one of the important olive producing countries thanks to taking place in the area where olive product is grown. The olive product produced in the Aegean, Marmara, Mediterranean, Southeastern Anatolia and Black Sea regions is an important product to be overemphasized as being an important export item and also being means of living for agricultural population in Turkey. Along with the increasing importance of both the olive oil and the table olive in parallel with the idea of healthy living, the importance of olive product in international trade has also increased. Therefore, Turkey's position in the world olive market and the evolution of this position over time will be examined in this study via network analysis. Network analysis has emerged as a popular tool in recent years to analyze international trade networks in both general and sectoral meaning. The fact that the indicators obtained as a result of the network analysis reveal the significance of the countries in international trade taking into account the overall trade relations in the network often has different results from the order of importance determined according to the countries' share in the world trade. In this sense, network indicators are regarded as more preferable than the first-degree indicators. In this study, Turkey's position in the global olive trade is examined by using bilateral export data over the period 1995-2015 via network tools. The findings of the study reveal that export impact of Turkey in this global network increases after 2000 but begins to decline after 2011. It is also found that the export impact of Turkey is affected by periodicity.