Abstract: Based on the accounting framework for the trade index of added value, this paper measures and compares the raking of the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index of the manufacturing industries of 38 world’s leading countries by adopting the two methods of gross accounting and added value accounting, so as to analyze the influence of the added value trade on the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and estimate the accurate position of China’s manufacturing industry in the global value chain. The results indicate that as for the resource-intensive or labor-intensive manufacturing industries, the analysis of the added value trade can reflect the influence of labor, raw materials and the technology on industrial competitiveness, which the aggregate analysis cannot get. As for the capital-intensive or technology-intensive manufacturing industries, the added value trade can reflect the influence of the intermediate trade on the competitiveness of these industries, which cannot be obtained by the aggregate analysis. From the trend analysis and the comparison results, it can be seen that Chinese traditional resource-intensive and labor-intensive manufacturing industries are still at the low end of the link of the industry value chain, while among the capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries, several industries have shown a certain international influence and competitive advantages.

Key words: global value chain; revealed comparative advantages index; export competitiveness