Asian countries, although the ratio of agricultural production out of the gross domestic product has been falling. The net export ratio of 'Foods and Animals' which is defined as '0' by the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) for 1980 and 1993 is calculated as a measure which indicates international competitiveness regarding foodgrain production. This net export ratio is often used as a measure to indicate commodity export competitiveness which is an international trade topic, and is calculated as the trade imbalance divided by the trade sum. i.e. [export value - import value] / [export value + import value]. It is seen that Vietnam, who only recently returned to the international economic sphere through Doi Moi policy, increased their export competitiveness most rapidly in this area. On the other hand, the Philippines, who are worried about a sluggish economy, decreased their export competitiveness rapidly in this area as well. Within ASEAN countries, it indicates that Thailand still maintains a strong international competitiveness, and also international competitive power has not decreased, following the efforts made for domestic food production, in Malaysia and Indonesia.
However, attention must be paid to the fact that the conversion of the employment structure is somewhat slower than the decrease in the agricultural ratio of the gross domestic product in those ASEAN countries who have enjoyed continuous high economic growth. The ratio of agricultural workers out of the total number of workers is still around 50% except in Malaysia, whereas the ratio of agricultural production within gross domestic product has decreased to less than 20% in ASEAN countries (Table 1).
Let's take the case of Thailand as an example. The ratios of manufacturing industry and agriculture within the gross domestic product switched over when both levels were just above 20% in the early eighties. The ratio of manufacturing industries continued to grow, reaching a level of just below 30% in 1993, in contrast to the agricultural ratio which continued to fall and reached 10% in the same year. Reallocation of labor between these industries has lagged far behind compared to the conversion in production, with the ratio for manufacturing industry being only 13%, in contrast to the 58% for agriculture, in 1993. At the
