Demand for Egyptian Molasses in the World Market: a Panel Estimation

 Although Egypt is considered one of the most important export countries for molasses in the world market, Egyptian molasses export witnessed notable fluctuations during the last decade. Nevertheless, there is almost no study investigates and estimates the factors affecting its demand in the world market. The present study aims mainly toestimate demand function of the Egyptian molasses in the global market and in each individual importer market. Competitors' relative prices, income of import country, exchange rate of rival exporters, and volatility of relative prices and exchange rate were the proposed determinants of the exported quantity of Egyptian molasses in the global market. Random effects analysis was conducted to estimate the demand function using panel data of three importer countries during the period of 1986-20012. The results showed that Egypt/India price ratio, Egypt/Pakistan exchange rate, and pricesvolatilityare significantly affecting negativelythe Egyptian molasses exports. The results of the estimation of demand function for each importer country independently showed nearly the same conclusions with minor differences. The responsiveness of Egyptian molasses exports to UK, Italy, and Spain Markets to the price ratios were measured by the price ratios elasticities in each market. The elasticities of Egypt/Pakistan Price ratio showed highest elasticities in UK and Spain markets by 4.85% and 4.12%, respectively. The Egypt/India price elasticity was the highest in Italy market by -5.