M. K. ELASHRY, M. S. GHEBLAWI and S. A. SHERIF
Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al –Ain, P.O. Box 17555, UAE
ELASHRY, MOHAMED K., MOHAMED S. GHEBLAWI and SHERIN A. SHERIF, 2010. Analysis of export demand for United Arab Emirates’ dates in world markets. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 16: 123-134
The main focus of this study was on methods of estimating the price elasticity of foreign demand of UAE dates for India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Jordan. Two models for estimating export demand for the UAE dates were applied; the substitution model and the market share model. Each model considered UAE dates as a final product. It was concluded that UAE has the potential to increase its date exports to the Indian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Pakistani, and Jordanian markets. Results of the substitution model illustrated that Indian, Pakistani, and Indonesian markets were the most sensitive to import prices. The results of the market share model indicated that Indian and Pakistani markets were sensitive to import prices of dates in both the short and long runs. Long-run elasticities showed that UAE dates encountered high competition in terms of price sensitivity in all of the studied markets except for Malaysia (inelastic). This result implied that dates’ prices play a key role in competition in these markets.