Network Patterns and Influence Factors of Food Trade in the Countries Along the Belt and Road
Based on social network analysis,this paper constructs trade networks for the food material and processed food trade networks of countries along the Belt and Road.Then we analyze the evolution of their structure characters as well as the influence fac-tors of the trade relation formation and trade scale variation,in order to provide scientific support for the formulation of cooperation strategies for the regional food trade.The research shows that:1)The food trade scale has been expanding rapidly among countries a-long the Belt and Road.The tightness,cohesion and connectedness of food trade networks have also been increasing.2)China is the absolute core of processed food trade networks and it has also been located at the central position of the trade network for the food mate-rial with Russia,Turkey,India and United Arab Emirates.These core countries have extensive and large-scale trade contacts,and control the regional food distribution.3)The clusters in food trade networks present a notable feature of separation and reorganization from 2009 to 2019.In food material trade networks,major importers and exporters exit their original clusters gradually to form a cross-regional cluster,while the country nodes in trade networks for the processed food have been adsorbed in Southeast Asia cluster or Chi-na-Russia cluster.4)There exist"large-country effect"and"geographical proximity effect"in food trade relationships.The signature of free trade agreement and the proximity of language culture as well as physical distribution could expand the scale of food trade activi-ties.It is suggested that China speed up the construction of high-level free trade zones,advance the joint development of food trade route,and strengthen the cultural exchang along the Belt and Road,to further promote trade cooperation with core countries,diversify food import and export channel as well as increasing the influence of regional safety of food supply.
food trade networkevolution of network patterninfluence factorsocial network analysiscountries along the Belt and Road
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