An Econometric Analysis of Marketing Efficiency Determinants and Exports Determinants of Egyption Potatoes

Agricultural marketing consists of all those business activities that go into getting a product such as potatoes in the hands of its ultimate consumers, The outputs of marketing are, consumers satisfaction with potatoes.The inputs are the various resources of labor, capital, and management that marketing firms use in the process, Efficient agricultural marketing, then can be defined as maximization of this input - output ratio. Thus, there is a necessity to develop an efficient potatoes marketing system to reduce the shortage in production.   
Examine the objectives of this investigation include: (1) to analyze of the Egyptian potatoes production, consumption, and export capacity during the period 1998-2012, (2) To measure, the potatoes marketing efficiency and its determinants, (3) To analyze the geographical distribution of potato exports and the determinants of its demand function. These objectives are of interest to the planners at various governmental and private marketing agencies to achieve their goals and to increase consumer satisfaction.
 
The main conclusion of the study indicate that: (1) Marketing efficiency for Egyptian potatoes ranges between a minimum at 18.1% in 2012, and a maximum amounting to 60.0%. The average for the study period amounts to 40.5% during the study period, (2) The marketing efficiency function showed a positive effect for the potatoes farm price, and the costs of production per ton .However, the retail price increase has a  negative effect on potato marketing efficiency, (3) The geographical distribution of potato exports during the period 1998-2012 indicate, (a) That: Italy, Russia, Greece, Germany, and Lebanon took the first position in terms of imports of Egyptian potatoes by 78.8% of the average total quantity of Egyptian exports, (b) The Italian market is ranked first of these imports, (c) The main determinants of demand for Egyptian potato exports are: (i) The Egyptian local potatoes production capacity, (ii) The Egyptian potatoes exports price, (iii) The French potato export price, (4) The forecast of  Egyptian potato exports shows that it amounts to 448.14 thousand tons in 2014, to 460.2 thousand tons in 2015, to 472.29 thousand tons in 2016, and to 484.37 thousand tons in 2017.