Tag: agri-food trade

This paper examines the evolution of China’s agri-food trade over the past two decades amid increasing global uncertainty. Using a combination of quantitative trade data and qualitative policy analysis from 2000 to 2023, it explores how China has navigated crises such as the global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical tensions. The findings highlight that China’s agri-food trade growth has been driven by trade liberalisation, domestic support policies, and a strategic focus on diversification and food security. However, challenges remain, including heavy import dependence, rising production costs, and environmental pressures. The study concludes that strengthening domestic capacity, investing in green innovation, and expanding trade partnerships are critical for long-term food system stability. These insights offer valuable lessons for other agricultural economies striving for greater resilience in a volatile global environment.

This paper draws implications of Trump’s re-election for the U.S. agri-food sector and in turn international agri-food trade. It begins with a historical perspective on U.S. agri-food trade and its role in world markets. It then turns to a review of Trump policies during his first term as President, 2017-21, and the significant market losses American farmers suffered during his first term. Despite these losses, farmers were an important constituency in re-electing Donald Trump President in 2024. The next section discusses American farmer attitudes and the sources of their continuing support for Trump in the 2024 election. This is followed by a critical review of what Donald Trump fails to recognise (or chooses to ignore) about international economics and the agri-food sector. The paper then reviews Trump’s policy announcements in the first four months back in office and draws inferences for American agriculture and the global agri-food sector in an environment that might best be described as navigating uncertainty.

This article analyses the evolving role of Brazil in the global agri-food system within the context of rising geopolitical and geoeconomic instability. It explores how Brazil, a leading food producer and exporter, navigates the mounting challenges posed by climate change, shifting trade alliances, protectionist policies, and new sustainability standards, particularly those imposed by key partners. Drawing on statistical data, policy analysis, and a comprehensive literature review, the study develops a critical and exploratory framework to understand the implications of these dynamics for Brazil’s agri-industrial sector. The paper traces Brazil’s agricultural transformation since the 1970s, driven by technology adoption, productivity gains, and export orientation. Brazil has achieved global competitiveness in agricultural products; however, its trade revenues are still highly concentrated on a restricted set of agricultural products and largely dependent on a few large importing countries, especially China. This dependency raises vulnerability amid global trade tensions and demand shifts. Simultaneously, emerging environmental regulations like the EU’s Deforestation Regulation introduce new compliance pressures, prompting the development of compliance and certification mechanisms. Although short-term gains have stemmed from geopolitical shifts such as the US–China trade war, long-term sustainability and market access hinge on Brazil’s ability to meet evolving environmental and governance expectations. This ...

The article analyses country- and industry-specific determinants of horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade (IIT) in agri-food products between the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic) and the European Union in the period 1999-2013. The results show that IIT is mainly of a vertical nature in the Visegrad countries, though the majority of their exports consist of low quality/value-added agri-food products to European markets. The results obtained by generalised method of moments (GMM) panel model estimations suggest that factor endowments and distance are mainly negatively related to IIT, while product differentiation was found not to foster two-way trade of quality-differentiated goods. All model runs show a negative relationship between productivity as well as foreign direct investment and IIT.