Potential of Kazakhstan’s grain export trade

ABSTRACT: Kazakhstan is located in the hinterland of Central Asia. Its virtuous geographical advantages and huge grain production potential make it one of the most important grain exporters in the world. The research on the problem of the grain trade in Kazakhstan is of great significance for food security. This study measured its international competitiveness using the International Market Share Index, the Revealed Comparative Advantage Index, Trade competitiveness index and calculated the international competitiveness and analyzed the influencing factors of grain export by constructing an extended gravity model and measured its export potential. Results showed that Kazakhstan has a low share of the international grain market; however, wheat, barley, and buckwheat have strong export advantages; the level of economic development and economic distance has significantly promoted the scale of grain exports. While geographical distance, the difference in GDP per capita, and the fact whether trading partner countries have joined the Eurasian Economic Union have caused obstacles to grain exports. Kazakhstan’s export potential to 6 countries including Russia, Kyrgyzstan and China shows an upward” trend, its export potential to 6 countries including Tajikistan and Ukraine showing a “stable” trend, and its export to 9 countries included Poland and Germany. The potential showed a “declining” trend.

Research on Global Grain Trade Network Pattern and Its Driving Factors

Trading systems are essential in promoting global food security. With the growing proportion of global food consumption obtained through international trade, the global food trade pattern has become increasingly complex over recent years. This study constructed a weighted global grain network using the trade data of 196 countries in 2000 and 2018 to explore the structure and evolution based on the complex network theory. We established that the global grain network was scale-free. There was significant heterogeneity among nodes, and the heterogeneity of the out-degree was greater than that of the in-degree. The global grain network has a significant core-periphery structure, with the United States, Japan, Mexico, Egypt, South Korea, and Colombia as the core countries. Thereafter, by applying the quadratic assignment procedure model to explore the driving factors of the global grain network, we established that geographical distance had a positive impact on the food trade patterns in 2000 and 2018. This differs from the classical gravity model theory. Furthermore, grain trade had significant “boundary effects”; economic gaps, resource endowment, and regional free trade agreements had a positive impact on the evolution of the grain trade network, whereas cultural similarity and political differences had a negative impact on the grain trade network pattern.

The Economic and Ecological Contexts of Urbanization in the Great Hungarian Plain during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

There is abundant research on the history of urbanization in the Carpathian Basin with a special focus on the history of urbanization in the Great Hungarian Plain. Over the past years, there have been investigations concerning climate and historical ecology issues, as well as economic and social history, the results of which enable us to obtain an overview of the complex processes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.It has been confirmed that prior to the Industrial Age (1850), climate change had made a profound impact on the conversion of the settlement network in the terrain and on the expansion of livestock farming. The climate in the seventeenth century seems to have been cooler and more humid, thus in the Great Hungarian Plain there were large areas covered with water. This significantly restricted the possibilities of crop cultivation as well as population growth. The warming-up period in the eighteenth century resulted in the shrinking of areas covered in water, the transition to flood plain farming and the extension of plough land crop cultivation, ultimately leading to population growth. There is evidence that by the turn of the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries, grain trade in the Carpathian Basin had been integrated into the Central European continental crop trading system, however, livestock farming was unique to the Great Hungarian Plain. From the mid-nineteenth century, due to the construction of the railway system in the Great Hungarian Plain, which revolutionized cargo transport, plus due to river regulations and drainage works, the economic structure of the area saw profound changes. In the meanwhile, the population and labor force supply were also increasing at a rapid rate. Marshlands and meadows were replaced by arable land and an increasingly growing crop production, which provided the foundations for the grain trade. Thus, new market centers emerged in the Great Hungarian Plain. Between 1828 and 1925, the number of market centers went up by 293, which represents an elevenfold rise. The growing density of the market center system significantly defined not only various aspects of urbanization, but also the general modernization of the Great Hungarian Plain.The purpose of my research is to analyze how changes in the climate influenced the settlement network, and the social and economic profile of the Great Hungarian Plain in the period concerned. Why was the favorable picture of a dynamically improving and modernizing Great Hungarian Plain at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries conceptualized by the public as an underdeveloped area characterized by a series of economic and social tensions? How do all these factors contribute to the revision of the emerging historiographic picture of the economic and social consequences of the Trianon Peace Treaty?

Grain trade between China and the United States shapes the spatial genetic pattern of common ragweed populations in East China cities

Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) is an invasive alien species (IAS) that can cause severe allergies among urban residents. Understanding its invasion pathways is critical for designing effective control programs. However, studies on the invasion of common ragweed normally skip urban areas. Results from a few studies based on analyzing occurrence records contain high uncertainties. We attempted to address this knowledge gap through a case study in East China cities by combining the population genetic method with the occurrence records. We first collected leaf samples of 37 common ragweed populations from 15 cities. We then quantified the spatial genetic pattern of common ragweed populations by analyzing genomic and chloroplast DNA extracted from the leaf samples. Combined with the analysis of occurrence data and trade data, we discovered that multiple introductions have impacted the spatial genetic pattern of common ragweed populations in East China Cities. We inferred that the modern-day grain trade between the United States and China could be the primary invasion source while the bridgehead introduction passage through Japan played a minor role. Among the studied cities, Nanjing and Shenyang dispersed more gene flows than other cities. The two cities' central roles in transportation and grain importation might explain the observed pattern. Based on our findings, we suggest that invasive species control programs should consider the potential role of cities as landing points and dispersal hubs of common ragweed in invaded countries.

Chapter 2: Russia’s Development as a Top Player in World Grain Trade

During the late Soviet period, Russia (along with the Soviet Union as a whole) was a major importer of grain, as well as soybeans and soybean meal, which were used to help feed the country’s growing livestock sector. The substantial reform-driven contraction in the livestock sector during the 1990s largely eliminated the need for grain imports. Beginning around 2000, Russia began to export grain, and into the 2010s it became major supplier on the world market. During 2016–2019, Russia exported on average 44 million metric tonnes a year, 10–14 percent of total world grain exports. The country’s dominant grain export is wheat, with Russia providing in the late 2010s around 20 percent of world market sales, thereby supplanting the United States as the world’s top wheat supplier. This chapter examines how Russia has developed into a major grain exporter, with the focus on how growing grain production since 2000 has generated surpluses for foreign sale.

A Great Success Story: Galiani's Dialogues sur le commerce des blés in Spain (1774-1802)

The year 1775 witnessed the publication of the Spanish translation of Ferdi-nando Galiani's Dialogues sur le commerce des blés (1770). Although there is evi-dence that the book was very successful during the Spanish Enlightenment, the purpose of this work is to analyse in detail the impact of Galiani's Dialogues on late eighteenth century Spanish literature, using citation count methodology. The work concludes that Galiani's book was a decisive work in the shaping of econom-ic culture in Spain during the Spanish Enlightenment. Not only it was profusely quoted, but all its main economic theses were well received among the Spanish po-litical economists. Beyond the strategic debate on the grain trade, the book deci-sively contributed to outline central questions of the mainstream of the Spanish Enlightenment, such as those related to economic methodology and growth strate-gy. All this confirms that the Dialogues triumphed in Spain due to their powerful power of influence in the arena of economic policy.

Effect of Some Abiotic Environmental Stresses on Some Physical Characteristics of Wheat Seeds(Triticum Aestivum L.)

The experiment was carried out in the laboratory of the General Company for Grain Trade, Al-Diwaniyah Governorate, variety Ibaa 99 during the season of 2021, to find out the effect of some abiotic environmental stresses (heat and humidity) on some physical characteristics of the wheat seeds(Triticum aestivum L.) The experiment was conducted according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD) for experiments, Factorial with three replications, the first factor included three levels of temperature (-7, 25 and 35°C) and the second factor three levels of humidity (12, 14 and 16%). The temperature level of 35 °C was superior to the specific weight and gave the highest specific weight of 77.02 kg/Hectoliter and the weight of 1000 grains 34.49 g, the moisture level of 16% exceeded the specific weight and gave the highest specific weight of 77.80 kg/Hectoliter, and the weight of 1000 grains 34.48 g.

CHALLENGES FOR THE WHEAT MARKET IN THE BLACK SEA REGION UNDER CОVID-19

Under COVID-19, the world is facing unclear circumstances as a result of the global political, economic, social and financial recession caused by the pandemic. The overpopulation of certain regions as a result of globalization leads to problems related to the nutrition of the population and food security. The Black Sea region, with its strategic location, is an essential market both for the production and for the supply of raw materials to the regions affected by poverty and also for the international grain trade and in particular for the wheat. The report presents the main trends in the wheat market within the Black Sea region and argues the problems and challenges, which the grain trade is facing after the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic.