An Economic Study of the Growth Determinants for the Egyptian Potatoes Exports to the Global Market

Abstract

Agricultural exports are drivers of economic growth as, apart from earning valuable foreign currency it creates sustainable jobs, increases the adoption of Advanced technologies and production practices as well as the enhancement of the overall competitiveness of the agricultural sector. Egypt's average exports of potatoes grew at a rate of 20% during the period (2001-2013) accounting for about 14% of the total value of agricultural exports. This remarkable raised an important research question on what are the most important growth determinants of Egyptian potatoes exports. The study attempts to investigate the situation of Egyptian exports of potatoes in the key importing markets, identify the most important competing countries to Egypt's potatoes exports and investigate the determinants of such exports in order to gain knowledge on the factors that influence the value of the Egyptian exports of potatoes. The results of the augmented gravity model revealed three factors that were found to be most significant namely, exchange rate, population, and the physical distance from Cairo to the capitals of the importers. GDP of Egypt GDP of the trading partner and the economic difference are of less importance. The total size of the specific export market for the Egyptian potatoes is also of lesser importance to the flows of the Egyptian potatoes exports.