Assessment of Government Policies and Programs to Enhance Global Competitiveness of Sugar Industries: Lessons From Major Sugar Producing Countries
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Date
2023-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
As the Government of Ethiopia is planning to privatize some of the sugar factories to potential investors, understanding the role of government policies and programs to enhance competitiveness of sugar industry in major sugar producing countries is important. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the government policies and programs adopted in major sugar producing countries that enhanced competitiveness of their sugar industry; and to identify lessons that can be adopted in the Ethiopian sugar industry to improve its competitiveness. Multiple case study method was adopted for the study. The research strategy chosen for the project was a comparative case study analysis using multiple secondary data sources. The conditions of the sugar industry and government policies and programs to enhance competitiveness of the industry were studied through consideration of the three dominant cane sugar producing and exporting countries: Brazil, India and Thailand. The three countries for the case study were selected using purposeful sampling based on preliminary assessment of their historical performance in sugar production and their global share of cane sugar production and export performance in the past few decades. Secondary data which were extracted from various documents and databases were used for the study. The collected data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Analysis of the data was carried out to assess how government policies were used to support the industry and compare how differently the sugar industries in the selected countries compete within the world sugar market and gain a competitive advantage. Overall, the study revealed that all the three countries used various government regulations, policy instruments and programs to increase sugar production. In addition, the findings showed that the government regulations and policies enacted in their respective countries helped the countries to increase sugar production and exports to world sugar market and thereby get greater market share in the international market despite depressed world sugar prices. Hence, the study concluded that appropriate government policies and programs can be used to enhance competitiveness of the sugar industry in countries with competitive advantage in sugarcane production