An Empirical Analysis of International Trade Network of Iron Ore

Abstract

This paper uses data of international iron ore trade in 2009, which cover 61 countries and 134 trade relationships, to evaluate the bargaining power of both export and import countries from the perspective of social network. The countries’ positions in the iron ore trade network and their bargaining power are examined through analysis of their Freeman degree centralities, Bonacich powers, betweenness centralities, and flow centralities. The results of these analyses identify prominent exporters, importers and brokers with great bargaining power, and countries with potential to improve their bargaining positions. The results also reveal the reason why the international negotiations of iron ore trade were almost always in favor of exporters.