The ‘Similarity’ of Agri-Food Trade Flows between the EU-28 and the Asia-50

ABSTRACT

Using Comtrade data extrapolated by the Trade Map system, this article presents different indexes to provide a picture of the evolution of similarities, productive dependence, and comparative advantages between the exports and imports of European Union (EU) and Asian countries. The findings indicate that 67% of the 24 agri‐food products considered in the EU‐28 show a comparative advantage for Asian markets. Furthermore, the results obtained from the application of a multivariate analysis offer a new insight, demonstrating an increase over the last decade in interdependence, similarity, and integration, firstly between some Asian countries and secondly between some EU and Asian countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Agri-food trade
• Asia
• European Union
• multivariate analysis
• similarity index

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions on our previous drafts. Naturally, they are not responsible for the manner in which their comments and suggestions were ultimately used.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Established by the Intergovernmental Agency, based in Geneva, International Trade Center (ITC).

Additional information

Funding

The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.