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Abstract
The performance, competitiveness, major destinations and determinants of cucumber and gherkin
export from India have been studied. Export performance ratio has been used to estimate the
competitiveness, and log linear type of demand function has been used to determine the export
determinants. It has been observed that India has made tremendous progress in the export of cucumber
and gherkin products during the past 15 years (1990-2005). The export has increased by about 128.5-
times with an impressive annual compound growth rate of 37.46 per cent, as against only 4.38 per
cent in the world market. The major export destinations for cucumber and gherkin have been identified
as France, USA, Russia, Belgium and Spain. An increasing and high value of revealed comparative
advantage (RCA) and a positive and increasing value for revealed symmetric comparative advantage
(RSCA) have indicated high potential in their export, particularly for the provisionally-preserved and
prepared/preserved products. One per cent increase in volume of international trade in cucumber and
gherkin may increase the demand from India by 5.96 per cent. This indicates that India is highly
competitive in export of cucumber and gherkin and has ample scope to further increase its export.
The study has also revealed that exchange rate is a more dominant determinant of export from India
than price of commodity.