Egyptian agricultural trade pattern and competitiveness

As the globalization Era that has recently enveloped all world countries the domestic markets of each country has also been strongly amalgamated into the international market. Accordingly, the implications of the international trade on the domestic agricultural trade of each country have significantly emerged. However the extend of amalgamation and interaction, would mainly depend upon the trade pattern of that country. These patterns are subject to the influence of domestic as well as international trade policies and factors directly related to crops and the production of goods that can affect the trade of agricultural products. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are the identification of Egypt’s major trade partners, the analysis of the Egypt comparative advantages in agricultural trade, the competitiveness of the Egyptian agricultural exports with respect to the international markets, i.e. to how extend the Egyptian agricultural sector has a greater or lower share in total agricultural exports than they have in the world as a whole, and finally a quantitative outlook of agricultural markets. The law of comparative advantage refers to the ability of a party (an individual, a firm, or a country) to produce a particular good or service at a lower opportunity cost than another party. It is the ability to produce a product with the highest relative efficiency given all the other products that could be produced. Comparative advantage explains how trade can create value for both parties even when one can produce all goods with fewer resources than the other. The net benefits of such an outcome are called gains from trade.