Assessing the competitive advantage of the Qatari date palm sector: Challenges and opportunities for growth

This study assesses the value chain and competitive advantage of the Qatari date palm sector within the international market. The first part of the study focuses on development strategies to improve the value chain in the State of Qatar. A “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats” (SWOT) analysis was used to explore challenges and opportunities leading to improvements in the marketing, commercialization, and competitiveness of dates and date palm products in Qatar. The SWOT analysis revealed that the diversification of date varieties and orientation toward modern plantations are the greatest strengths of the date value chain. However, increasing competition in regional and global date markets is a major threat to the date sector in the country. The second section of the study assesses the competitiveness of the Qatari date palm sector in the international market using a set of widely used indicators, including the market share, revealed comparative advantage, and trade balance index. The empirical findings reveal that Qatar is not competitive in the international date palm market given its very low comparative advantage. The study suggests that a strategy must be driven by stakeholders to clearly identify a vision for better marketing, prioritize actions, focus investments to increase competitiveness and growth, and expand profitability in the date value chain.