Dairy Marketing System Performance in Egypt

The local supply of milk in Egypt represents quantities available for domestic consumption, and consists of local production and dairy imports minus exports, plus the change in inventory, which is the difference between stock in the previous year and in the this year. The dairy products include a pattern of several products for consumption, which requires analysis of the supply as raw milk equivalent. The most difficult component of the domestic supply to estimate is the production as it originates from several types of livestock, which are cattle, Buffalo, sheep and goats. Each type has its own Specific technical variables (productive and reproductive traits). Therefore, the study allocated a section for estimating production. The traditional small farmers are still the main source of milk suppliers in Egyptian market, as well as the main breeders. The other two production systems are the stall herds within the surrounding belt of major or big cities, compose mainly of milking Buffalo, and the limited number of specialized commercial farms that bred Dairy Buffalo, foreign breeds cattle, particularly "Holstein Breed" or both breeds, (Fitch and Soliman, 1983). The study followed the commodity approach of marketing studies. It spreads the analysis and appraisal of the dairy marketing system to cover the marketing functions, marketing institutions, and the value chain of the marketing stages (Soliman, 2008). Therefore, this approach serves also the basic requirements of the value chain analysis (VCA).