摘要
The study analyzed the foreign trade performance of buffalo products using several indicators. These are the foreign trade structure by product and by Geographic distribution, time trend, instability, the free on board or freight on board （FOB） price ratio of buffalo to cattle revealed comparative advantage of tradable buffalo products. Thailand has the highest buffalo exports of live animals and hides. India exports the highest share of buffalo meat. Buffalo dairy products exports are rare due to lack of expanded dairy processing industries of buffalo milk and lacking of awareness towards the buffalo milk quality, which limits the demand for buffalo dairy products and shortage in supply beyond the domestic consumption. While buffalo stock all over the world represents 12% of the world bovine stock, its share in buffalo exports of meat is around 27% of the world bovine exports measured in tons in 2007. Such share shrinkages to 13.2% when measured in dollars. This shrinkage is due to lower prices of buffalo products than cattle products. The ratio of annual average ＂FOB price＂ of buffalo meat to bovine price was about one-half and for hides was about 40%, and for live buffalo was 14%. Reasons of the apparent lower FOB price of buffalo Exported Products than cattle are the low carcass weight of buffalo exported mainly for processing, low quality and limited demand for buffalo hides, and commonly, exporting live buffalo as weaned calves. Expansion in exports of buffalo products requires expansion in supply, through the potentiality of higher productivity, rather than stock size, to reach in balance with available feeds.
