*3.2. Relative Trade Advantages*

At stage 2, the study aims at the identification of those agricultural products for which relative trade advantage is positive and then matching average values of trade and comparative advantages (Table 4).

**Table 4.** *RTAav* values for selected agricultural products in Central Asia in 2000–2018.


Note: Green cells—product groups for which RCA and RTA match; yellow cells—product groups with relative trade advantage. Source: Authors' calculation based on [26].

Comparative and trade advantages overlap largely for crops and horticultural products (fruit, wheat, oilseeds, rice, barley, spices), while do not match in the livestock sector and food processing (particularly, in Kyrgyzstan).

The study also reveals that, in some cases, the countries of Central Asia trade in those agricultural products in which they possess no distinct comparative advantages but only trade ones—aquaculture products in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, cereal meals and preparations in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, feeding stuff for animals in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and oilseeds in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, among others.
