In November 2020, RCEP, the largest regional trade agreement involving the largest population and scale in the world today, was finally successfully signed. The conclusion of RCEP will provide a platform to further strengthen agricultural cooperation ...
In November 2020, RCEP, the largest regional trade agreement involving the largest population and scale in the world today, was finally successfully signed. The conclusion of RCEP will provide a platform to further strengthen agricultural cooperation and enhance trade development among member countries. By measuring the agricultural products trade data between China and RCEP countries, exploring the reasons affecting the growth of agricultural products trade between the two sides, and analyzing the efficiency, potential and influencing factors of agricultural trade between the two sides, it is of great value to promote the smooth flow of agricultural trade between China and RCEP countries and further enhance the potential of agricultural trade between the two sides.
To explore the reasons affecting the growth of China's agricultural products trade with RCEP countries, this paper applies the constant market share model to decompose the changes of China's agricultural products trade with RCEP countries in both directions based on the data of China's agricultural products trade with RCEP countries. Results showed that the growth effect of China's agricultural exports to RCEP countries no longer promotes exports, and the decline of competitiveness is also detrimental to exports. However, the commodity effect and market effect are strengthening the promotion of exports. The growth effect of RCEP countries' agricultural exports to China is dominant at all stages, and in recent years, the improvement of export competitiveness is also promoting exports. However, the unreasonable structure of export products inhibits the growth of exports.
To analyze the efficiency, potential and influencing factors of agricultural products trade between China and RCEP countries, this paper constructs a stochastic frontier gravity model and a trade inefficiency model based on agricultural products trade data between China and RCEP countries. The results of the stochastic frontier gravity model show that, for imports, the GDP of RCEP countries, total population of China and RCEP countries, the distance between the capitals of China and RCEP countries, and whether China and RCEP countries share a common language have significant positive effects. For exports, the GDP of China and RCEP countries, per capita GDP gap between China and RCEP countries, total population of RCEP countries, whether China and RCEP countries share a common language, and whether they have signed an FTA have significant positive effects, while the distance between the capitals of China and RCEP countries and whether they have adjacent borders have significant negative effects. The results of the one-step method show that, for imports, the liner shipping connectivity index, political stability, financial freedom, competitiveness of agricultural products in China and RCEP countries, and the share of agricultural employment are favorable to trade efficiency, while political democracy and value added per capita in agriculture are unfavorable to trade efficiency. For exports, the liner shipping connectivity index and financial freedom are favorable to trade efficiency, while political democracy, competitiveness of agricultural products in China and RCEP countries, and the share of agricultural employment are unfavorable to trade efficiency. At the same time, the average value of the import trade efficiency of agricultural products between China and RCEP countries decreased from 0.5006 in 2000 to 0.2252 in 2020, while the average value of export trade efficiency increased from 0.314 in 2000 to 0.6352 in 2020. The overall export trade efficiency is higher than the import trade efficiency, and the efficiency of import and export trade is highly heterogeneous among countries. Hence, a large trade potential is yet to be explored. Finally, this research puts forward feasible suggestions for further improving the efficiency of agricultural products trade between China and RCEP countries and tapping the potential of bilateral agricultural products trade.
Finally, in order to further improve the efficiency of agricultural trade between China and RCEP countries and tap the potential of bilateral agricultural trade, this paper puts forward the following suggestions. (1) Seize the opportunity of the development of "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" and further strengthen the construction of transportation and other infrastructure between China and RCEP countries. (2) Improve government efficiency and pay attention to financial risks. (3) Pay attention to the heterogeneity of RCEP countries and implement country-specific management of agricultural products imports and exports. (4) Enhance the competitiveness of agricultural products trade and balance the coordinated development of domestic demand and external demand.