Analysis of the competitiveness of Egyptian and Tunisian exports in the fresh and dry date's markets تحليل تنافسية صادرات مصر وتونس فى أسواق التمور الطازجة والجافة

Abstract

This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis between some competitiveness' indicators of Egyptian and Tunisian date's exports, in order to propose mechanisms to improve the marketing position of the Egyptian dates in the export market. The study relied on descriptive and quantitative statistical analysis tools, such as calculating simple and weighted averages, and estimating the trend for the quantity and value of date's experts of Egypt and Tunisia. The Revealed Comparative Advantage index (RCA), “the Balassa index”, was utilized to compare the competitiveness of date's exports of the two countries. The most important results of the article showed that RCA score of Tunisia is relatively greater than Egypt, where RCA was estimated at 164.57 and 12.99 in Tunisia and Egypt, respectively. The study concluded that the most important mechanisms for strengthening the Egyptian date's export are: Activating the role of the Supreme Council for Dates, with the need to promote the establishment of date factories in industrial areas, encouraging the inclusion of informal date factories into the formal economy, attracting foreign investment in the date palm sector, and working on establishing export zones for dates.