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Business & Economics

CHINA’S EXPORT TRADE POTENTIAL OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS WITH ADVANTAGES FACING THE BELT AND ROAD: EMPIRICAL STUDY OF EDIBLE MUSHROOM TRADE²
Ping Li , Huiling Peng, Yangmei Zeng , Haijun Wu

ABSTRACT: With the implementation of China’s "dual circulation” development strategy and the expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s agricultural trade is occupying a favorable position in international economic and trade cooperation, and superior agricultural exports have become an essential engine for high-quality trade development. To estimate China’s edible mushroom trade’s export potential and trade efficiency to the Belt and Road, using the stochastic frontier analysis model and the trade data of edible mushroom from 2005 to 2020, the trade potential of China's edible mushroom exports to countries along the Belt and Road and its influencing factors were measured and analyzed. Results show that exporting countries’ GDP per capita and population size are positively related to the trade scale of China’s edible mushroom exports. By contrast, importing countries’ population size and transportation distance have negative impacts on edible mushroom exports. Investment freedom significantly deepens the trade inefficiencies, whereas government effectiveness, free trade agreements, and trade freedom can partially offset trade inefficiencies. Furthermore, although China’s edible mushroom exports to countries along the Belt and Road are not inefficient, the regional trade development imbalance is significant. Conclusions are helpful to improve China’s export trade policy of agricultural products to countries along the the Belt and Road.

KEYWORDS:  Belt and Road, superior agricultural products, export trade efficiency, stochastic frontier gravity model, international economic cooperation, edible mushroom

JEL classification:  F01, F14, F06

²Acknowledgments:  This study was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (2021M700985), Key Projects of Philosophy and Social Sciences Research,Ministry of Education（21JZD030） and Hubei Provincial Social Science Foundation (21ZD056).