Under conditions of open economic activity for all participants of the agricultural market, the competitiveness of agricultural enterprises is the basis of their sustainable development. Due to the growing openness of the activities of agribusiness entities and globalization of the economic relationship, almost every agricultural enterprise declares competitiveness is one of the main tasks of its activity. Sustainability due to competitiveness of the agricultural enterprises requires an appropriate management system, including its anti-crisis component.

In general, the system of competitive advantages of agricultural enterprises is under the influence of the globalization process. At the same time, the rules of competitive struggle are fundamentally changing, which is reflected in the anti-crisis management system. New forms of competition appear because of the changes in proportions of the world agricultural market, acquisition of commodity production by individual agricultural enterprises of a transnational nature. Along with price, non-price forms of competition based on consumers' tastes and loyalty to certain product groups, advertising competition, quality competition, after-sale service competition, etc., are gaining popularity.

Therefore, competitiveness of agricultural enterprises as an economic category includes a certain reasonably managed long-term aspect of development. In general sense, it is the ability of agricultural enterprises to achieve and maintain high rates of economic growth as an important basis for decent economic and social indicators of development.

In the article, the authors emphasize the need to establish competitive advantages in the system of anti-crisis management at agricultural enterprises, which is determined by the actual development of the mechanism for creating and strengthening competitive advantages. The article provides classification of competitive advantages as a prerequisite for developing the mechanism.