Research on the competitiveness and influencing factors of agricultural products trade between China and the countries along the “Belt and Road”

Abstract

The countries along the “Belt and Road” are important cooperation regions for China's agricultural trade. The examination of agricultural trade competitiveness and its influencing elements between China and nations along the “Belt and Road” serves as a guide for China's international agricultural cooperation with these countries. The competitiveness of agricultural goods trade between China and nations along the “Belt and Road” was estimated using the MS index, RSCA index, CA index, and TC index from 2001 to 2019, and the variables influencing agricultural trade competitiveness were experimentally studied. The findings reveal considerable disparities in agricultural product trade competitiveness between China and the areas and countries along the route. Central and Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe are competitive, but China, Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia, and West Asia and the Middle East are weak. Twelve countires, including Thailand and Myanmar, are competitive, while China, Russia, and Kazakhstan are weak. Due to the presence of more common land in China and countries along the route, the scale of the agricultural economy, farm households' agricultural input, labor productivity, land productivity, and trade openness have a positive and significant impact on trade competitiveness, but the conditions of land resources and government agricultural input have a negative and significant impact. The lack of integration of resources and financial resources into competitiveness has resulted from a mismatch of resources and government agriculture investment. The main focus of policy should be on strengthening economic and trade exchanges with regions that have high agricultural trade competitiveness, actively pursuing international agricultural production capacity cooperation, and promoting multilateral and regional trade and investment preferential systems.