Potential for agricultural trade in COMESA region: a comparative study of Sudan, Egypt and Kenya

This paper aimed at quantifying the potentials of intra-regional agricultural trade in the COMESA region taking examples of Sudan, Egypt and Kenya. Different indicators and indices like instability index, production similarity index, comparative production performance index, export similarity index and revealed comparative advantage index were used. The results showed a promising potential for intra- regional agricultural trade. The instability indices of production in cereals, pulses, and roots and tubers were more stable at regional level than national one. The results of production similarity index indicate differences in production patterns of the three countries. Export similarity indices results show that countries are dissimilar in their export patterns. The revealed comparative advantage indices, considering each country separately, are generally higher for dominant export products. As dominant products differ among the countries the pattern of specialization differs considerably among these countries, and therefore, there is a potential for expanding intra- regional trade in the region. The paper concluded that the government policies of COMESA member countries, especially Sudan, should pay more emphasis to encourage integrating their markets regionally to benefits from potential of trade and comparative advantage exist in the region.