ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY OF DATES IN NEW VALLEY GOVERNORATE (CASE STUDY)

Projects of various sizes and types contribute to the success of the economic development plans in general. Agricultural industrial projects are the basis for agricultural development in the economies of many countries, so this research aims to identify the economic feasibility of one of the productive activities in the New Valley governorate, On the efficiency of the work in the manufacturing units and the possibility of expansion in the future establishment in addition to identify the implications of the establishment of those units. The problem of research is that the packaging industry is very important because of its ability to absorb a large proportion of the labor force by creating many direct and indirect employment opportunities, from agriculture to storage of agricultural and industrial products that are produced to distribution to complementary industries such as Packaging The focus was on date factories as the main product of the New Valley Governorate. However, the expansion of these units has led to an imbalance between the production capacities and the availability of commodity inputs on the one hand, and the extent to which the revenues and investment profits of that unit.  The research aims to identify the current status of agricultural processing in the New Valley Governorate by identifying the number of factories, their relative importance and the activities of agroindustries, focusing on the most important activities of agro-industries and the importance of agricultural processing, especially in the field of date   industry. In addition to trying to identify the most important problems and obstacles that hinder the development of the industry of processing and preserving dates in the New Valley Governorate for the development of this sector by evaluating the factories that rely on agricultural products as raw material. The questionnaire was prepared and completed by (16) establishments working in the field of packing dates, semi-automatic, The research data were collected in 2019 through a personal interview with the factory managers, The questionnaire included data on production values, raw materials, wages, commodity and service inputs, number of workers, … etc., These data were analyzed using financial and economic criteria. As it achieves an annual trading profit ranging between ( 9.6–092.61) million pounds, which represents a commercial profitability ratio ranging from (1.50 - 2.59) pounds, which is a high percentage reflecting the profitability of this productive activity, while the income of the investor invested between (0.50 - 1.59) pounds Which indicates the efficiency of this industry economically, while the value of the break-even point ranged from (6.77-104.94) million pounds, while the percentage of the margin safety of production ranged between (32.18 - 61.16)%showed the ability of these manufacturing units to cope with the potential risk conditions of lower production. Or lower product price.