Journal of Economics and Trade

Logistics Cost and Production Capacity in Cement Industry in Libya

2023-03-09T07:28:44+00:00

The cement industry plays a key role in our lives as basic material for all types of construction. Nearly, all cement industries have struggled with many problems over the last decade because of the unstable political situation, that negatively affects the Libyan economy. This research seeks to explore the development of the current industry sector in Libya, focusing in cement manufacturing, and assesses recent efforts to attract further foreign development. It sheds the light on the importance of logistics cost, as a factor in increasing the production capacity of the cement industry. Furthermore, to understand the significance of this subject, it provides an assessment of improving the capacity of cement manufacturing products in Libya through the “logistics strategy”. A survey was conducted among the target companies. The analysis of the survey responses indicates that, the management body within the surveyed companies has a modest strategy in most areas, which are considered very crucial for any level successful implementation of new strategies.

Impact of Portfolio Allocation on the Performance of Indian Mutual Funds

2023-03-10T06:50:03+00:00

Retail investors face a dilemma in selecting funds from among the wide range of schemes available. The past performance of a fund is not always indicative of its future performance, but it is the only quantitative way to judge how good a fund is at present. Investors always prefer funds which give high returns and have low risk. Thus while building a fund portfolio the fund manager should understand the impact of portfolio allocation in different instruments on the performance of the portfolio. The objective of the present study was to find the short-term effects of portfolio allocation on the performance of mutual funds. The data for the study consisted of the portfolio allocations and the performance measures of a sample of one hundred and nineteen open-ended mutual fund schemes, of which thirty-eight were diversified debt/ income funds, forty-eight were diversified equity funds, twenty-one were balanced funds, and twelve were short-term debt funds. The performance measures used for the analysis were: mean returns, standard deviation in returns, beta, and Sharpe ratio. The portfolio allocation of the funds was described both in terms of the percentage allocated in equity, debt, and cash & equivalents, and in terms of the percentage allocated in different sectors. The data was entirely secondary data, and was collected from the AMFI website. The findings of the study indicate that, for different types of funds, allocation in different asset classes, that is, equity, debt, and cash & equivalents, as well as their sector-wise allocation tend to impact the performance of the fund.

Influence of Traditional Cross-border Investment Vehicles on Capital Market Performance: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria and Kenya

2023-03-14T07:23:21+00:00

This study evaluated the influence of traditional cross-border investment vehicles on the performance of the Nigerian and Kenyan capital markets, for the period spanning from January 2011 to December 2020. Exchange rate, monetary policy rate (otherwise known as the central bank rate in Kenya), inflation rate, crude oil price and credit rating were used as the traditional cross-border investment vehicles while capital market performance was proxied by All Share Index. Ex post facto research design was used in a multiple regression analysis framework to determine the partial effects of the endogenous variables on the explained variable. Pretesting was done using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller method to establish the stationarity of the model variables. The test showed that the data series were of mixed order of integration which necessitated the application of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The ARDL bounds test indicated that the influence of traditional cross border investment vehicles on the performance of the Nigerian and Kenyan Capital markets was bound by a long-run relationship. Specifically, the long-run estimates showed that, whereas the Nigerian capital market was significantly affected by the dynamics of exchange rate and monetary policy more than Kenya, the Kenyan capital market was affected the most by the crude oil price changes and inflation than Nigeria. In terms of credit rating, the Nigerian capital market was largely negatively affected whereas Kenya seemed less volatile. Regarding the speed of adjustment to disequilibrium, it was observed that all the models exhibited an automatic adjustment to equilibrium after very short-run shock. The study concluded that traditional cross border investment vehicles had huge impact on the performance of the two markets and therefore recommended among others that, all the stakeholders should make concerted efforts towards improving the investment climates of East and West African leading stock markets.

Export Potential of Ham Yen Oranges

2023-03-16T06:37:14+00:00

This study assessed the situation and analyzed the factors affecting the export potential of Ham Yen orange. This study conducted a survey using the questionnaire for 50 people, who are stakeholders in the value chain of Ham Yen oranges. The study results show that Tuyen Quang province has many potentials and advantages to develop export-oriented Ham Yen orange production. Specifically on area, productivity, and output of oranges to increase rapidly. Oranges are good quality with famous brands. The selling price is low, ensuring competitiveness; and there are many natural – economic-social factors favorable for the development of export-oriented Ham Yen orange production. However, the study also identified many difficulties and challenges. In order to develop Ham Yen orange production to meet export requirements. It is necessary to implement synchronous solutions like strongly shifting the area of orange cultivation in the direction of meeting standards as follows VietGAP, organic oranges, EuroGAP, GlobalGAP ...; Application of science and technology in the stage of varieties, planting, care, harvesting and transportation of oranges. Investment in transport, infrastructure, irrigation, wholesale market, cold storage, and factory for preliminary processing, packing, and exporting products. Supporting capital, market information, training, and transfer of science and technology to orange growers; would strengthen linkages in the growth and market of their fruit, especially with enterprises that purchase, preserve, process, and export fruits.