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.

Determinants of Bilateral Trade Flows Between Vietnam and Trading Partner Countries – Gravity Model Approach

This study uses the gravity model to investigate the bilateral trade flows between Vietnam and 52 countries from 2001 through 2011. The data are collected from International Trade Centre (ITC), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank (WB). The results show that economic size, geographical distance, economic distance, technological innovation, trade openness, free trade agreement, population, exchange rate, and common border affect the bilateral trade flows between Vietnam and these 52 countries. More importantly, this study uses the speed-of-convergence method to find new potential trading partners for Vietnam, such as those in Africa and Southwest Asia.

The Spatial Correlation and Driving Mechanism of Wood-Based Products Trade Network in RCEP Countries

Clarifying the spatial correlation and driving mechanism of wood-based products trade network is conducive to promoting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to a higher level. Firstly, we explored the characteristics of spatial correlation and evolution tendency of raw material-type wood-based products trade network (TN-WFPM) and product-type wood-based products trade network (TN-WFPP) from the overall characteristics, centrality, and node coreness of the networks according to social network analysis method. Then we analyzed the driving mechanism of the spatial correlation according to the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP). The results show that, compared with TN-WFPM, the density, reciprocity, and agglomeration of the TN-WFPP are relatively stronger. The centrality and evolution characteristics of RCEP countries are different in the networks. The coreness of China and Thailand in the TN-WFPP has always been in the top two, while the coreness of China, Japan, and Korea has increased significantly and China has been the top since 2010 in the TN-WFPM. Factors like cultural distance, forest resource endowment, forest certification area, economic scale, economic distance, and free trade agreements (FTA) have significant impacts on the spatial correlation of wood-based products trade among RCEP countries. Furthermore, the impacts of different factors on the two kinds of networks are heterogeneous.

Dampak Kebijakan Tarif dan Non-tarif Negara-Negara Importir atas Ekspor Tuna Olahan Indonesia

This study aims to analyze the impact of the tariff and non-tariff policies implementation of the importing countries on the export performance of Indonesian processed tuna. A cross-sectional gravity model analysis was conducted to find out the impact of these policies on exports. The variables used include GDP per capita of the importing countries, population, economic distance, export prices, actual exchange rates, tariff policies, and non-tariff policies in the form of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT). The estimation shows that the variables of GDP per capita of the importing countries, population, exchange rates, export prices, and SPS give a positive and significant effect on the trade of Indonesian processed tuna commodities. On the other hand, economic distance and TBT policy give a negative and significant impact on the volume of this particular commodity. Meanwhile, the tariff policy implementation also give a negative effect on the export volume, but it is not significant. Keywords: cross sectional gravity, export performance, non-tariffs, tariffs

Competitiveness of Indonesian Shrimp Export to the United States

Agricultural sector in Indonesia contributes greatly to employment, foreign exchange earners, and economic growth. In the export sector, shrimp commodities have the largest portion and become Indonesia's leading commodities. However, Indonesia still cannot become a leader in the world's largest shrimp exporter and only occupies the fourth position of the world's shrimp exporter. There were two goals in the research. First, it was to determine the position of the competitiveness of Indonesian shrimp commodity exports compared to other exporting countries in the United States market. Second, it determined the factors that affected the competitiveness of shrimp exports commodity and made business strategy recommendations for Indonesian shrimp commodities. The research used panel data with a cross-section of seven countries and time series from 2001 to 2017. The result shows that Indonesia has a competitive advantage in the United States market. However, Indonesia must be wary of Ecuador with a higher Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Value and India, the lead exporter in the United States Market. The factors that affect the competitiveness of shrimp exports are Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, economic distance, and exchange rate of shrimp exporting countries against the US Dollar. Last, the right business strategy for Indonesia is to perform market penetration, market development, and product development strategies.

Export intensity and competitiveness of Indonesia's crude palm oil to main destination countries

Palm oil is a superior product from Indonesia that is continuously and widely used for daily needs such as cooking, grooming, and manufacturing. However, this potential must be supported by oil palm business actors' performance to maintain its intensity and competitiveness. This study investigates how various factors affect Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) export intensity and competitiveness by employing panel regression and the basic gravity model. The panel data used here is a 20-year time series with cross-sections from five major importers from 1999 to 2018. The results show that the importer's gross domestic product (GDP) and quantity of export significantly and positively affect Indonesia's CPO export intensity, while the exporter's GDP and economic distance has a significant and negative effect. The factors that positively and significantly influence competitiveness are soybean's import value and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification, while Malaysian CPO's export and population of importing countries negatively affect Indonesian CPO competitiveness.

Sustaining Trade during COVID-19 Pandemic: Establishing a Conceptual Model Including COVID-19 Impact

The conceptual research aims to identify antecedents conducive to bilateral trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the relevance of bilateral trade for foreign policy and economy studies, there is a need for a renewed framework in times of extreme economic instability. As international commerce is essential for improving the country’s economy, we have examined how economic distance, population, trade percentage of GDP, exchange rate, and political changes interconnect and relate to COVID-19, influencing trade flows. This conceptual paper illustrates the likely impact of COVID-19 on international trade by exploring pandemics’ effects on standard trading parameters such as GDP, distance, policy stability, and population. We model the resulting shock as a multifaceted variable reflected in capital underutilization, manufacturing output decline, international trade costs inflation, production costs inflation, decrease in demand for certain services and shift from everyday needs towards activities that exclude the proximity between people, e.g., proclivity towards virtual market products. The sudden decrease in GDP and bilateral trade, as well as FDI, is amplified by further development of pandemics’ long-term consequences. We take COVID-19 to be a technological, financial, and policy shock significantly influencing international trade and economic development and argue that it will have a varying impact on diverse sectors and economies. The paper offers preliminary insight into the pandemic-related economics that are unfolding and deduce recommendations on positive changes in trading policy to fully leverage on arising trading opportunities and point to potential research directions.

Customer value, purchase intentions and willingness to pay: the moderating effects of cultural/economic distance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore differences in the behavioural intentions of consumers in different countries, i.e. Japan, UK and Taiwan by employing a customer-based value model.Design/methodology/approachA total of 305 consumers of one of Japan's brand and chain stores, Muji, were interviewed. The moderating effects of cultural and economic distances from the home country of the firm were also tested.FindingsThe results showed that cultural distance moderates the impact of symbolic, experiential and aesthetic value on purchase intention; however, economic distance was found to only influence monetary value.Originality/valueCross-cultural studies on customer value in the retailing industry are limited. The findings from this study offer several implications for those firms that adopt a globalization strategy using another perspective, while to some degree glocalization could be a better strategy.

RESEARCH ON THE RELEVANCE AND SPATIAL SPILLOVER EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN CHINA

Comprehensively considering the factors of environmental pollution, financial development and spillover effects, this paper analyzes the spatial dependence and clustering characteristics by selecting provincial panel data from 2005 to 2018. Meanwhile, considering geographic distance, economic distance and asymmetric factors, the optimal spatial econometric models are determined by constructing five different weight matrices and utilizing spatial panel models. The results show that (1) there existed significant positive correlation in the regional economic development and the spatial dependence played a significant role in promoting the economic development; (2) the direction and significance of spatial spillover effects were consistent under different spatial weights, and the spatial weight which considered geographical distance, economic distance and asymmetric factors proved to be the best; (3) the environmental pollution had a significant positive correlation with economic growth; (4) financial development had some positive effects on economic growth; (5) financial development was conducive to reducing the impact of environmental pollution on economic growth, and the promotion of environmental quality could strengthen the role of financial development in promoting economic growth; (6) from the perspective of regional heterogeneity, the cross terms of environmental pollution and financial development were not significant in the eastern region, but significantly negative in the central and western regions.

Landscape assessment for space orientation for ecological tourism development in Van Ho district, Son La province

The paper presents the results of landscape assessment serving the spatial orientation of ecotourism development in Van Ho district, Son La province. The input data includes: Terrain (elevation, slope, slope direction, ground roughness); Natural (temperature, rainfall, geology and soil); Environment (vegetation cover density, land use activity, protected\ protected area, distance from water source); Socio-economic (distance from residential points, distance from major roads, distance from cultural sites, distance from negative points). The weights of the criteria are determined through AHP method. The component values of the indicators and the overall landscape value were determined by overlaying the maps. The results show that: About 75% of the district area is not suitable for ecotourism development, about 25% of the area is suitable for ecotourism development, distributed in the east and southeast of the district.