Competitiveness of the Sudan Live Sheep Exports in the Saudi Market

Abstract

The strong and growing demand for live sheep in the Saudi market enhanced the state of competition among the exporting countries of Sudan, Syria, Jordan, Romania, Australia, New Zealand and others.The aim of this paper was to assess the competitiveness of the Sudanese live sheep exports in the Saudi market vis-à-vis the competitors. Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) analytical approach was applied toachieve the paper objective. Data from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations International Trade Statistics Yearbook (UNITS), for the period 1992- 2013, were used to calculate the RCA index. The results showed an increasing trend in the market share of Sudanese live sheep in the world market, despite the clear fluctuations, as it increased from 4% in 1992 to 22% in 2013. Also, the results of the calculated RCA index for live sheepexports indicated that Sudan had a revealed comparative advantage as a major exporter of this commodity compared to other competitors (RCA>100) as well as a comparative advantage over the other Sudaneseexport commodities. Such comparative advantage was due to low relative costs of production, dependence on natural grazing and differences in non-price factors. This is regardless of the fluctuations in the RCA index in some years. Based on the findings, the paper recommends giving priority in the strategy for promoting live sheep exports through, for example, revoking all types of taxes levied on animals moved from areas of production en-route to export outlets, improving the infrastructure suchas establishing modern quarantines and stringent health measures. These measures would strengthen and enhance the revealed comparative advantage. Moreover, the revealed strong competitive advantage should be exploited to promote the Sudanese live sheep in international markets in general and the Saudi market in particular.