Competitive bidding on import tenders: The case of minor oilseeds

A common and noteworthy application of auctions and bidding is that of tend ering for imports, used for both price determination and the allocation of purchases among sellers. In this study we develop a model to evaluate biddi ng strategies and competition and apply it to Egyptian oilseeds imports. Ge nerally, bids could be explained with a relatively high degree of confidenc e using accessible data. In addition, there appear to be groups of bidders characterized by differences in their bid functions. These statistical resu lts were used to determine optimal bids and evaluate the effects of several critical variables. The results are particularly interesting for understan ding sellers' bidding strategies and competition among rivals, as well as i mpacts of specific variables on optimal bids and payoffs to sellers.