This article presents the main findings from Tasks 2.1 (Resilience enhancing trade policies) and Task 2.2 (Private and Public Stocks and Storage) of the Work Package 2 by the title of “Developing innovative solutions and evidence-based recommendations (Global value chain)”, translating their outputs into operational insights for the design and implementation of the Decision Support System (DSS) within the STAPLES project. 

WP2 focuses on two interconnected domains related to food system resilience in the MENA region: international cereal trade and market access (Task 2.1), and procurement strategies for strategic reserves and collective storage (Task 2.2). Both tasks contribute to the development of analytical tools supporting evidence-based decision-making across different stakeholder groups, including public authorities, policymakers, agri-food firms, cooperatives, and other actors along the cereal value chain. 

Market Attractiveness Index 

Task 2.1 developed the Market Attractiveness Index (MAI), a composite indicator designed to assess and rank destination countries from the perspective of cereal exporters, with particular reference to European agri-food firms. 

The MAI is structured around two main pillars: 

• trade costs;  

• domestic market conditions.  

The index integrates indicators drawn from publicly available international datasets, including the World Development Indicators, CEPII, and FAOSTAT. It applies z-score standardisation and offers alternative aggregation approaches, including equal weighting and factor-analytic methods. The resulting composite scores enable country ranking, sub-pillar decomposition, and temporal comparison. 

Once integrated into the STAPLES DSS, the MAI will support exporters and policymakers in market prioritisation, trade strategy formulation, and evidence-based decision-making.