Economic Analysis of International Demand for Egyptian and Sudanese Cotton

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Abstract

This research aims to study the key indicators of Egypt and Sudan cotton exports, by measuring following indicators through 2000-2015:
Market penetration rate index, cotton export instability factor, revealed comparative advantage, relative price of cotton, the geographical distribution of exports and imports of cotton and the relative importance of each country, the annual growth rate for the amount of cotton exports, and market share for the cotton exports of the two countries in their major foreign markets.
The study revealed the following results: Market penetration rate index for Egypt and Sudan cotton exports shows that both countries have a competitive advantage for cotton exports in some countries indicating opportunities for both countries to increase their cotton exports for those markets, by studying the needs and the required cotton specifications of those markets. Calculations of the Revealed comparative advantage showed that the value of the comparative factor during the study period (2000-2015) for Egypt and Sudan each is over one indicating higher comparative advantage in cotton production compared to all competing countries ,this points to the need for work on cotton exports issues in the two countries to maintain this comparative advantage. The study also
 
revealed that Egypt and Sudan have no competitive price compared to most competitors in the export of cotton in the world market. The study found that there is a low market share for Egyptian and Sudanese cotton in global cotton exports. Coefficient of instability for local production of Egyptian cotton is around 34.5% and for Sudan it is about 43.65%, this high instability ratio is the most influential factor in weakening Egypt and Sudan on cotton export markets. The estimation of the production function indicated that the annual growth rate in the volume of cotton exports from Egypt and Sudan, each separately, is negative indicating deterioration in cotton exports of both during the study period. The study of the market shares of Egypt and Sudan cotton in different markets during the period (2000-2015) showed that the United States, India, Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy and Pakistan are the biggest importers of Egyptian cotton with a market share of more than 3%, while in other countries Egypt share is less than 3% of their total cotton imports. As for Sudan cotton, it was found that markets of Egypt, Bangladesh, Germany, India, and Italy are the largest importing markets for Sudanese cotton, where the market share is more than 2.5%. While in other importing countries Sudan cotton, the market share is less than 1% of their total cotton imports.

Keywords

Main Subjects