An analytical study of agricultural price policies for the best important sugar crops in Egypt

Abstract

The development of the agricultural sector is influenced by a range of economic policies, the most important of them is the agricultural price policies, whose objectives vary with different stages of economic development as well as the economic policies followed in the country. Sugar cane and sugar beet crops are sugar crops that are used not only in Egypt but in most countries of the world. The problem of the study was the inability of the local sugar production of 2196 thousand tons to cope with the increase in the requirements of increasing domestic consumption of about 3230 thousand tons in the light of the inability to expand the cultivation of sugar cane as a main crop in sugar production in Egypt, and the growing food gap. Sugar imports, which amounted to about 964 thousand tons, and then increase the import gap, which reflects negatively on the agricultural trade balance, which entails knowing the changes in the Egyptian agricultural policies and the changes that resulted in distortions in the markets. Therefore, the study aimed to estimate some economic transactions to identify the essence of the Egyptian agricultural policies followed by the state in the production of the crop to know the extent of deviation of market prices for sugar crops from economical prices to see the degree of non-employment of resources. The following conclusions were reached: The results of the analysis of the agricultural policy matrix of the crops under study showed that the nominal protection coefficient of production inputs was estimated at 0.74 and 0.69 for sugarcane and sugar beet crops, respectively, indicating that there is no support for production inputs. The nominal protection coefficient of production was estimated at 0.74 and 0.76 for sugarcane and sugar beet crops, respectively, indicating that the state imposes direct and indirect taxes on the product and provides subsidies to the consumer. The effective protection coefficient, estimated at 0.74 and 0.77, for sugarcane and sugar beet crops, respectively, indicates implicit taxes, which means that the value-added of these crops is low and therefore not protected during the study period. The comparative advantage coefficient was about 27% and 31%, indicating a comparative advantage for Egypt in the production of sugarcane and sugar beet crop during the study period respectively, where 0.27 and 0.31 local resources are needed to generate unit of foreign currency for sugar cane and sugar beet crops during Period of study, respectively.