Study on the Export-Oriented Trade Pattern and Market Potential of Agricultural Products in Taiwan, China

Objective/Meaning As a typical export-oriented economy, Taiwan, China boasts important practical significance for exploring the export-oriented trade pattern and market potential of its agricultural products. The research findings contribute to the in-depth agricultural integration across the Taiwan Strait and the high-quality development of cross-strait agricultural product trade.

Methods/Procedures This study selects Taiwan, China and its top five agricultural product trading partners as research samples. By measuring the Trade Competitiveness (TC) index, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index, Trade Complementarity Index (TCI) and their growth rates, it systematically analyzes the trade pattern and market potential of agricultural products in Taiwan, China from both static and dynamic dimensions.

Results/Conclusions The results show that the agricultural product trade of Taiwan, China is generally characterized by rigid import dependence, differentiated export structure and highly concentrated market distribution. From the static perspective, the overall trade competitiveness of Taiwan’s agricultural products is relatively weak, with certain comparative advantages only in a few resource-based and primary processed product categories such as aquatic products. From the dynamic perspective, the trade competitiveness of most agricultural product categories in Taiwan, China shows a contracting trend. Its trade complementarity with the Chinese mainland continues to weaken, while the complementarity with ASEAN fluctuates greatly without forming a stable matching relationship. Meanwhile, both the export and import of agricultural products in Taiwan, China are highly dependent on the Chinese mainland market. Accordingly, only by stabilizing and deepening cross-strait agricultural economic and trade ties and promoting industrial chain cooperation can Taiwan, China consolidate the competitiveness of traditional advantageous agricultural product categories, accelerate the transformation of comparative advantages of emerging categories, and further realize the high-quality development of its agricultural product trade.