Dina Farouk Enany*⁽¹⁾, Amany  Mahmoud Elhosseni⁽¹⁾ and  Taher M. Saied Kadah⁽²⁾

(1). Department of Research and Regional Studies, Agricultural Economics Research Institute, (ARC), Egypt.

(2). Central Laboratory of Residue analyses of Pesticides and Heavy Metals in Food (QCAP), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Egypt.

(*Corresponding author: Dina Farouk Enany, E.mail:dr.dinatahsin@:gmail.com, 00201015838339)

Received:23/07/2024                         Accepted:4/11/2024

Abstract: 

Foreign trade plays an important role in the Egyptian national economy, as it contributes to financing economic development plans, thereby increasing Egypt’s national income. This necessitates studying the possibility of introducing agricultural crops to promising markets, including the BRICS countries, to benefit from the advantages of joining this bloc. The research problem is reflected in the weakness of Egyptian agricultural exports to BRICS countries, which amounted to about $366.20 million, representing around 12.71% of Egypt’s total agricultural exports to the world. This calls for opening new markets in the BRICS countries, enhancing them, and addressing all the obstacles hindering trade between them. The research aimed to study the indicators of efficiency and competitiveness of foreign agricultural trade between Egypt and the BRICS countries in general, and Russia in particular. Most of Egypt’s agricultural exports are concentrated in Russia, without equal distribution among the other countries. Exports to Russia account for approximately 46% of Egypt’s total agricultural exports to the BRICS bloc. Egypt’s share of orange and potato exports to Russia is about 56.26% and 99.78%, respectively, of Egypt’s total exports of these crops to the BRICS countries, as an average for the period (2016-2023). This indicates that most of Egypt’s agricultural exports are concentrated in these two crops, without diversification across different agricultural groups. Therefore, efforts should be made to distribute these exports across the BRICS countries to reduce the risks of monopoly and control by importing markets over Egyptian agricultural crops and goods. Moreover, Egypt’s agricultural imports from Russia are significantly high, with the share of grain imports (wheat and maize) from Russia reaching 42.18%. The relative agricultural trade balance index stood at (-74.58%), indicating Egypt’s heavy reliance on grain imports from Russia.

Keywords: BRICS, Russia, oranges, potatoes, competitiveness, SWOT model.

Full paper in Arabic: pdf