COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE AND COMPETITIVENESS OF EGYPTIAN EXPORTS OF DATES IN THE WORLD MARKETS

The study aimed at measuring competitiveness of Egyptian exports of dates based on indicators Econometric Analysis and indicators of competitiveness.  The important results of this study are: 1-     Indonesia is ranked first in the import of Egyptian dates, amounting is about 31.9%, followed by the state of Morocco with about 24.6%, then the State of Malaysia, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Germany with rates about 20.9%, 3.8%, 3.6%, 2.9%, 2.3%, 0.99% respectively of total imports. 2-     Egypt has a competitive advantage compared to the rate of penetration of Egyptian exports of dates for the most important international markets in the state of Morocco, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Lebanon respectively. 3-     Egypt has also a competitive advantage in the export price of dates for each of Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Algeria among the most important countries in the world. 4-      Calculating the geographic concentration of date’s commodity coefficient shows that it is almost close to zero, which suggests that there is a problem in Egyptian exports of dates, despite the fact that Egypt is classified as the first country worldwide in its production. 5-     A ten percent change in the comparative advantage of the phenomenon of Egyptian exports of dates leads to a change in the same direction to the amount of Egyptian exports target of 11.7% . 6-     The study predicts an increase in the quantity and value of Egyptian exports targeted from about 32.9 thousand tons, 41.9 million dollars in 2017 to 38.2 thousand tons, 48.9 million dollars in 2020.   Recommendations   1-    The paper recommends that a production map should be made to determine different consumer tastes in importing countries. 2-    Opening export areas of dates in competitive countries such as the state of Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Algeria specially where Egypt has a competitive price advantage over these countries. 3-    Reviewing the export policy in general and the policy of exporting dates in particular to support Egypt’s competitive status in the Arab and international markets specially that the rest of the competitive countries in exporting dates had a competitive price advantage compared to Egypt. 4-    Studying both of the Lebanese and Turkish markets to re-open them for Egyptian date exports since these specific markets show a significant lack of Egyptian date exports. 5-    Increasing the competitiveness of dates in the international markets and maintaining the markets in which Egypt has a competitive edge for its exports of dates such as Indonesia and Morocco. 6-    Determining in general the most important kinds of dates that competitive countries exports.