an analysis for india and china - icrier

5.1.2 Commodity- wise
At the six digit level, the trends observed are as follows. In terms of the value of
the index of RCA flat rolled products of high speed steel >/=600mm wide ranks at the top
with an RCA value of 99.0. This is followed by items like lead carbonate (RCAI=98.19),
dichlorotetra/penta-fluoroethanes (RCAI=92.23), opium sap, turmeric (curcuma)
(RCAI=89.89), and coir yarn (RCAI=85.86) as the next five commodities ranked
according to their RCAI values 5 .
The commodities that rank among the top 100 according to the index of RCA
while being dispersed among various sectors, are largely drawn from sectors like organic
chemicals, cotton, salt, sulphur, earth, stone, plaster, lime and cement and iron and steel.
When sectors are ranked according to the number of constituent top ranking (top 100)
commodities, organic chemicals ranks the highest.
Table 5.3: India: Sector- wise distribution of commodities with RCAI rank ≤ 100
Rank HS code Sector Number of commodities
1 29 Organic chemicals 12
2 52 Cotton 11
3 25 Salt, sulphur, earth, stone, plaster, lime and cement 8
4 72 Iron and steel 7
5 57 Carpets and other textile floor coverings 5
There are also some sectors where India is comparatively disadvantageously
positioned at the aggregate level but reveal significant comparative advantage at the
constituent commodity (HS-six digit) level. Of the total 97 chapters, 46 are characterized
in this manner. Among some of these chapters, commodities where India has a significant
comparative advantage (i.e. can be placed among the top 100 commodities for RCAI) can
be found. A list of these sectors is given below.
5 Complete list of commodities in which India enjoys advantage in the world market in 2000 and 2003 is
available with the author.
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