The fish industry in Eritrea: from comparative to competitive advantage

Abstract

The paper examines the main constrains in stimulating extent of production driven supply chains, that could able to
transform into market driven supply chain management.; Questionnaires, were developed and administered to
marketing agents using purposive sampling, with the application of Porter’s diamond of national competitive
advantage. Red sea being underexploited resource; and it is unique opportunity for the development of the country
(MOF, 1997) . However, this comparative advantage has never been converted to competitive advantage. Comparing
to the percentage of fish population with in 100km from the coastal, Eritrea has the larger fish resource
concentration in the region (73%). However, the sector has never made significant contribution to the country food
security. The study confirms that all the role payers in the fish market chain and policy makers need to take a
strategic approach, in identifying target markets, and ways to build strong and sustainable production. Moreover, all
stack holder in the sector needs to formulate how to move up to: the value chain; niche marketing opportunity;
converting comparative into competitive advantage; specifically focus on the services revolution; and overcoming
technical and structural barriers.