A Social Network Analysis of International Wheat Trade

Abstract

This paper uses data of international wheat trade in 2009, which cover 76 countries and 183 trade relationships, to evaluate the bargaining power of both export and import countries from the perspective of social network. The countries’ positions in the international wheat trade network and their bargaining power are examined through the analyses of their Freeman degree centralities, Bonacich powers, betweenness centralities, and flow centralities with the help of the social network program UCINET 6.0. The results of these analyses identify prominent exporters, importers and brokers with great bargaining power, and countries with potential to improve their bargaining positions in the wheat trade network. The results also reveal that the price forming mechanism of world wheat trade is in favor of exporters.