Sarcouncil Journal of Economics and Business Management

Abstract: This review examines the determinants of competitiveness in global agricultural export markets, with particular attention to soybeans and other staple crops. Drawing on evidence from 33 empirical studies across major exporting and importing regions, the review synthesizes how competitiveness is shaped by interacting macroeconomic, structural, policy, and firm-level factors rather than by production scale alone. The literature consistently shows that large agricultural scale, high labor and land productivity, and trade openness support strong export performance, especially for net exporters such as Brazil and Argentina. However, these advantages are frequently weakened by structural traps, including concentration in low-value-added products, domestic absorption of surplus, policy misalignment, and reliance on price-based competition. Trade costs, logistics inefficiencies, and non-tariff measures, particularly sanitary and phytosanitary standards and certification requirements, emerge as major constraints for bulk commodities like soybeans and grains. The review also highlights the widespread use of revealed comparative advantage indices, constant market share analysis, and gravity models to assess export performance and disentangle demand-driven growth from genuine competitiveness gains. Findings also underline the importance of regional integration, exchange rate stability, and effective institutional support, while firm- and value-chain-level strategies such as cost control, quality upgrading, processing, and certification are critical for sustaining competitiveness. Overall, the literature points to the need for integrated strategies that combine productivity gains, logistics improvement, coherent policy design, and value-chain upgrading to move staple crop exports from volume-driven growth toward more resilient and high-value competitive positions.