Export competitiveness of agricultural products and agricultural sustainability in China

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2021.09.001

Abstract

Abstract:

The competitiveness of a country’s agricultural products is not only related to its capacity to export agricultural products, but also to the sustainability of its agricultural sector. How to improve the international competitiveness of a country’s agricultural products while maintaining the sustainability of its agricultural sector is a practical problem of great urgency for a country with a large agricultural sector such as China. With this in mind, this study should have a considerable policy and practical significance. We used two evaluation indices, namely trade competitiveness (TC) index and revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index, to measure and analyze the international competitiveness of six China’s representative agricultural products, i.e., live pigs, live chickens, live cattle, apples, tea, and beer, and to examine the changing trends of these products’ competitiveness during 1994-2013. The results indicate that the export competitiveness of China’s agricultural products is weak and likely to deteriorate further. However, some traditional agricultural products with distinctive regional characteristics, for example, tea and live pigs, are relatively strong internationally. To this end, China should vigorously promote the production and foreign trade in traditional agricultural products with distinctive regional characteristics. At the same time, comprehensive measures should be taken to enhance the international competitiveness of disadvantaged agricultural products.

Key words: Agricultural products, Export competitiveness, Trade competitiveness index, Revealed comparative advantage index, China

LONG Yulin. Export competitiveness of agricultural products and agricultural sustainability in China[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2021, 2(3): 203-210.

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Index range	Export competitiveness level of agricultural products
TC= -1.000	Imports but does not export—no export competitiveness
-1.000<TC≤ -0.500	Very poor export competitiveness
-0.500<TC≤0.000	Poor export competitiveness
0.000<TC≤0.500	Strong export competitiveness
0.500<TC<1.000	Very strong export competitiveness
TC=1.000	Exports but does not import—strongest export competitiveness

Index range	Export competitiveness level of agricultural products
RCA≥2.500	Very strong export competitiveness
1.250≤RCA<2.500	Strong export competitiveness
0.800≤RCA<1.250	Medium export competitiveness
RCA<0.800	Weak export competitiveness

Product	Mean	Median	Maximum	Minimum	Standard deviation
Live pigs	0.009	0.006	0.119	-0.048	0.045
Live chickens	-0.171	-0.150	0.054	-0.439	0.160
Live cattle	-0.186	-0.217	0.314	-0.763	0.405
Apples	0.076	0.201	0.464	-0.477	0.338
Tea	0.729	0.729	0.806	0.651	0.043
Beer	-0.414	-0.399	-0.218	-0.630	0.111

Year	Live pigs	Live chickens	Live cattle	Apples	Tea	Beer
1994	-0.031	-0.046	0.168	-0.477	0.667	-0.218
1995	0.004	0.054	0.223	-0.446	0.651	-0.311
1996	0.022	0.010	0.223	-0.321	0.662	-0.423
1997	0.041	-0.027	0.241	-0.283	0.721	-0.395
1998	0.061	-0.029	0.289	-0.324	0.738	-0.470
1999	0.018	-0.055	0.314	-0.267	0.719	-0.630
2000	0.009	-0.009	0.301	-0.150	0.723	-0.625
2001	-0.006	-0.064	0.203	-0.120	0.711	-0.612
2002	-0.004	-0.031	-0.093	0.050	0.744	-0.475
2003	-0.024	-0.103	-0.486	0.166	0.760	-0.417
2004	-0.001	-0.197	-0.711	0.235	0.777	-0.403
2005	0.017	-0.246	-0.448	0.271	0.780	-0.396
2006	0.035	-0.225	-0.217	0.348	0.763	-0.329
2007	0.119	-0.233	-0.238	0.283	0.775	-0.316
2008	0.094	-0.268	-0.217	0.364	0.806	-0.294
2009	-0.048	-0.348	-0.420	0.464	0.758	-0.315
2010	-0.045	-0.365	-0.664	0.437	0.685	-0.362
2011	0.010	-0.422	-0.719	0.415	0.704	-0.383
2012	-0.043	-0.382	-0.763	0.427	0.701	-0.436
2013	-0.044	-0.439	-0.699	0.454	0.735	-0.462

Product	Mean	Median	Maximum	Minimum	Standard deviation
Live pigs	3.039	2.045	6.947	0.785	2.330
Live chickens	1.704	0.958	4.342	0.102	1.653
Live cattle	0.174	0.133	0.409	0.058	0.120
Apples	1.169	1.159	1.397	0.805	0.154
Tea	2.813	2.265	6.393	1.258	1.492
Beer	0.416	0.199	1.469	0.116	0.431