COMPETITIVENESS OF EGYPTIAN ORANGES IN THE GLOBAL MARKETS DURING THE PERIOD (2012-2021)

: Orange is considered the top agricultural export crop in terms of relative importance for the value of Egyptian agricultural exports. The study aimed to evaluate the performance of Egyptian orange exports in global markets during the period from (2012 – 2021). Egyptian oranges are exported to 134 importing countries worldwide. The results of the descriptive analysis of the data showed an increase in the value of Egyptian orange exports from $442.2 million in 2014 to $714.4 million in 2021. Egyptian orange exports face strong competition from Spain and South Africa, which precede Egypt in terms of global export quantities. However, Egypt enjoys a competitive advantage in terms of relative price compared to these two countries. The average price per ton of Egyptian oranges during the study period was approximately $544 per ton, while it was around $803 and $575 per ton for Spain and South Africa, respectively. This indicates that Egyptian oranges are also capable of competing strongly. The data also showed that the most important export markets for Egyptian oranges are the Russian market with a relative importance of 19.2% of Egypt's total orange exports, followed by Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands with relative importance of about 16.4% and 7.3%, respectively. The results of the market share index during the same period indicated that Egyptian oranges dominate the markets of Jordan, India, Saudi Arabia, as well as the Russian Federation, Oman, Ukraine, and Kuwait, with a percentage of total orange market share in these countries reaching approximately 69.2%, 66.8%, 53.3%, 48.9%, 45.5%, 44.5%, and 39.7% respectively. Meanwhile, the results of the market penetration index indicate the potential for increasing Egyptian orange exports to Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Netherlands. However, increasing Egyptian orange exports to China is challenging, as the market penetration index value