Competitiveness of palm dates fruit of Tunisia in the Mediterranean region

The date-palm cultivation and your trade are questions of clear strategic importance in terms of economic, social and environmental development in Tunisia. However, the globalization of markets has had a huge impact on the traditional concept of the comparative advantage enjoyed by Tunisia in date exports. In fact, an analysis of the competitive advantage of the Tunisian date industry in the Mediterranean area and Iran over the last 20 years shows that Tunisia is still the main supplier of dates to the EU. The Deglet-Nour variety puts to Tunisia ahead of traditional competitors such as Algeria and Iran, with average of competitiveness indices as BIS 6405.99, DI 17.38, CMS 41.04 and TBI 99.50 are more stable than those countries during the studied period. But it is currently facing new competitors like Israel and re-exporting countries like France. New business strategies (conditioning, new non-chemical treatments, packing, opening new markets, new distribution channels) would be positive responses to tackle current market limitations, the emergence of new producers and restrictive EU policies. We gratefully acknowledge the Erasmus Mundus program, for their support and scholarship, without which the present work could not have been completed.