The Impact of Regional Integration on Intra-Arab Trade in Agrifood Commodities: A Panel Data Approach

This paper assesses the impact of Arab integration arrangements on intra-Arab Agrifood trade. The main results indicate that Arab regional integration efforts have been ineffective in promoting Agrifood trade flows among the Arab countries. The results also show that actual intra-Arab Agrifood trade is consistently lower than the predicted values by the gravity model. Furthermore, Arab sub-regional trade agreements have had a modest impact on intra-Arab Agrifood trade. Taken together, these findings suggest that i) there is untapped trade potential in agricultural and food commodities among the Arab countries and thus they could potentially attain deeper levels of Agrifood trade integration, and ii) despite the significant progress that has been made over the past two decades in lowering tariff barriers, Agrifood trade among Arab countries has remained below its potential which in turn points out to the existence of non-tariff barriers that restrain the trade effects of Arab economic integration

The Impact of Regional Integration on Intra-Arab Trade in Agrifood Commodities: A Panel Data Approach

This paper assesses the impact of Arab integration arrangements on intra-Arab Agrifood trade. The main results indicate that Arab regional integration efforts have been ineffective in promoting Agrifood trade flows among the Arab countries. The results also show that actual intra-Arab Agrifood trade is consistently lower than the predicted values by the gravity model. Furthermore, Arab sub-regional trade agreements have had a modest impact on intra-Arab Agrifood trade. Taken together, these findings suggest that i) there is untapped trade potential in agricultural and food commodities among the Arab countries and thus they could potentially attain deeper levels of Agrifood trade integration, and ii) despite the significant progress that has been made over the past two decades in lowering tariff barriers, Agrifood trade among Arab countries has remained below its potential which in turn points out to the existence of non-tariff barriers that restrain the trade effects of Arab economic integration

Microwave-Assisted Solvothermal Synthesis of Mo-Doped TiO2 with Exceptional Textural Properties and Superior Adsorption Kinetics

Assigned to their outstanding physicochemical properties, TiO2-based materials have been studied in various applications. Herein, TiO2 doped with different Mo contents (Mo-TiO2) was synthesized via a microwave-assisted solvothermal approach. This was achieved using titanium (IV) butoxide and molybdenum (III) chloride as a precursor and dodecylamine as a surface directing agent. The uniform effective heating delivered by microwave heating reduced the reaction time to less than 30 min, representing several orders of magnitude lower than conventional heating methods. The average particle size ranged between 9.7 and 27.5 nm and it decreased with increasing the Mo content. Furthermore, Mo-TiO2 revealed mesoporous architectures with a high surface area ranging between 170 and 260 m2 g−1, which is superior compared to previously reported Mo-doped TiO2. The performance of Mo-TiO2 was evaluated towards the adsorption of Rhodamine B (RhB). In contrast to TiO2, which revealed negligible adsorption for RhB, Mo-doped samples depicted rapid adsorption for RhB, with a rate that increased with the increase in Mo content. Additionally, Mo-TiO2 expressed enhanced adsorption kinetics for RhB compared to state-of-the-art adsorbents. The introduced synthesis procedure holds a grand promise for the versatile synthesis of metal-doped TiO2 nanostructures with outstanding physicochemical properties.NPRP Grant no. NPRP 12S-0304-190218 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

Demand relationships in orange exports to Russia: a differential demand system approach focusing on Egypt

Abstract Recent years have witnessed closer diplomatic relations between Egypt and Russia, which have led to significant growth in the countries’ bilateral agricultural trade. As a world-leading producer and exporter of oranges, these developments represent an opportunity for Egypt to promote its orange exports to Russia. Another emerging opportunity for Egypt to increase its share in the Russian market for imported oranges has been provided by import embargos imposed by Russia in recent years on agricultural and food commodities from several countries, creating a supply gap of around 25 % in the Russian orange market. To assess the competitiveness of Egyptian oranges and explore the potential export opportunities presented by the Russian market, this paper uses a Rotterdam import allocation model to analyse demand relationships among major orange suppliers to Russia during the period 1996–2014. The results show that in comparison with other orange suppliers, Egypt enjoys a strong comparative advantage in the export of oranges to Russia. The econometric results suggest that both Morocco and Egypt would benefit the most if Russia were to allocate a larger budget to the import of oranges. The expenditure elasticity estimates indicate that an increase in Russia’s demand for imported oranges would lead to increases in the quantity of Egypt’s orange exports, as well as in its share of the Russian orange market. Furthermore, cross-price elasticity estimates reveal that Egyptian oranges are substitutes for Turkish and South African oranges, implying that Russia has a tendency to switch to these two suppliers when Egyptian oranges become relatively expensive. In light of these results, the adoption of strategies to produce oranges sustainably and cost-effectively, upgrade the orange value chain, acquire processing technologies and enhance the technical and organisational capacity of farmers and exporters could be useful means for promoting exports and boosting the competitiveness of Egyptian oranges on the Russian market

Performance of Egyptian Cotton Exports in International Market

The performance of Egyptian cotton exports (ECE) has been examined in the international markets during the period 1990-2006. The study has revealed a high degree of geographic concentration of ECE in India, Italy, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. Together, these markets had imported about 50 per cent of ECE during 1990-2006. The competitive advantage of Egyptian cotton has been found to be dependent on its quality not price. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Italy had provided the most stable markets for ECE during the study period. Linear regression analysis has suggested that one per cent increase in the Egypt-to-USA export price ratio leads to a decrease in ECE by about 27.8 thousand tonnes. This analysis has also shown a positive and significant effect of the World Trade Organization on ECE. The study has revealed the possibility of increasing ECE to the Indian and Korean markets

Africa’s Food Security under the Shadow of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has emerged as an exogenous shock to global food supply chains, which foreshadows worrying impacts on Africa’s food security and nutrition, and threaten to derail national and global efforts to end hunger and poverty and to achieve sustainable development goals on the continent. This article provides an early assessment of the implications of the invasion for Africa’s food supply chains and food security. Two particularly aggravating factors, which explain the current and likely future impact of the invasion on Africa’s food security are discussed: the timing of the invasion and the two parties involved in the conflict. The article underlines four major channels by which the invasion disrupts African food supply chains: energy markets and shipping routes, availability and prices of agricultural production inputs, domestic food price inflation, and trade sanctions and other financial measures. In addition, the article considers the risk of social and political unrest that disruption to food supply chains and spikes in domestic food prices may inflame. Finally, the paper briefly discusses options for short- and long-term responses by African governments and their development partners to mitigate the repercussions of the conflict on food supply chains, boost food and nutrition security, and build resilience of Africa’s food system

Russia's invasion of Ukraine jeopardizes food security in Africa : shocks to global food supply chains could lead to social and political unrest

Apart from being a humanitarian tragedy, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also emerged as an exogenous shock to global food supply chains, with severe consequences for many African countries in particular. Four months into the invasion, we can see three main threats to food security in Africa: a disruption to energy markets and shipping routes; a shortage of fertilizers; and the negative ‘third-party’ effects of sanctions imposed on and by Russia

Russia's invasion of Ukraine jeopardizes food security in Africa : shocks to global food supply chains could lead to social and political unrest

Apart from being a humanitarian tragedy, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also emerged as an exogenous shock to global food supply chains, with severe consequences for many African countries in particular. Four months into the invasion, we can see three main threats to food security in Africa: a disruption to energy markets and shipping routes; a shortage of fertilizers; and the negative ‘third-party’ effects of sanctions imposed on and by Russia

A Dynamic Analysis of Egyptian Orange Exports to Russia: A Co-integration Analysis

This paper analyzes the determinants of Egyptian orange exports to Russia by apply- ing an autoregressive distributed lag approach to quarterly data covering the period 1996-2014. Our major findings indicate that i) A one percent increase in the Russian GDP would lead to an increase of about 3.7% in Egypt’s orange exports to Russia in the long run, ii) Egypt’s export price relative to the export prices of other competitors has a negative statistically significant influence on orange exports to Russia, and iii) unlike our expectations, trade liberalization efforts between Egypt and Russia have had a negative influence on orange exports to Russia