THE IMPACT OF APPLYING ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF EGYPTIAN POTATO EXPORTS

Agricultural exports are among Egypt's most important exports, contributing approximately 12% of total Egyptian exports. Vegetable exports are a key component of the commodity structure of agricultural exports, and Egypt is considered one of the world's largest vegetable exporters. The importance of developing Egyptian vegetable exports by environmental quality standards stems from the importance of modern trends.The research problem was represented by the increase in the number of rejected shipments of Egyptian vegetables in some international markets, the subsequent decline in growth rates of vegetable exports, and the imposition of restrictions on export penetration in some markets. The research hypotheses were represented by a statistically significant effect of applying environmental quality standards on the development of Egyptian vegetable exports according to the broad concept that includes an increase in the number of markets and export quantities and an increase in competitive capabilities.It was found that vegetable exports contribute 40% to agricultural exports and are witnessing a growth of 7% annually. There is also a geographical diversity in the countries that reject vegetable exports and a diversity in the rejected goods, the reasons for rejection and the existence of significant differences between countries in the rates of rejection of vegetable exports, and thus the existence of a statistically significant negative effect of both the geographical diversity of countries rejecting vegetable exports and the number of rejected shipments, and the interaction between them on the growth rate of Egyptian agricultural exports in global markets.The study recommended the development of internationally accredited Egyptian quality laboratories, support to reduce the costs of obtaining certifications related to the quality of vegetable exports, and modernization of the export quality control system.