Latin America's Export Trade Prospect of Agricultural Products to China

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze the trade prospect of Latin America countries’ exporting agricultural products to China combining the dimensions of competitiveness and trade potential, and using the Boston Matrix. Based on the agricultural product trade data from 2000 to 2019, three categories are analyzed based on Harmonized System: animal, plant, and food processing product. The results show there are 4 LA countries in the zone of bright prospect trading agricultural products with China, which are Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. And 16 countries in the zone of promising prospect, 6 countries in the zone of bottleneck prospect, 5 countries in the zone of dark prospect. From the perspective of the category of agricultural products, plant agricultural product is the category in which there are the most countries with bright prospect. From the perspective of trading region, South America is the area in which countries with bright prospect concentrate. Countries with dark prospect mainly concentrate in Central America and South America. Countries with bottleneck prospect evenly distribute in different regions. Countries with promising prospect mainly concentrate in the West Indies. To promote Sino-LA agricultural trade, trade categories should be expanded and trade potential should be improved. Plans could be made for cooperation according to local conditions. LA should improve the quality control of exported agricultural products. China and LA should promote regional integration and strengthen technology cooperation in agricultural industry.