Evolution of Global Food Trade Patterns and Its Implications for Food Security Based on Complex Network Analysis.

Jieyong Wang,Chun Dai

doi:10.3390/foods10112657

Abstract

Global food trade is an integral part of the food system, and plays an important role in food security. Based on complex network analyses, this paper analyzed the global food trade network (FTN) and its evolution from 1992 to 2018. The results show that: (1) food trade relations have increased and global FTN is increasingly complex, efficient, and tighter. (2) Global food trade communities have become more stable and the trade network has evolved from “unipolar” to “multipolar”. (3) Over the nearly 30-year period, the core exporting countries have been stable and concentrated, while the core importing countries are relatively dispersed. The increasingly complex food trade network improves food availability and nutritional diversity; however, the food trade system, led by several large countries, has increased the vulnerability of some countries’ food systems and brings about unsafe factors, such as global natural disasters and political instability. It is supposed to establish a food security community to protect the global food trade market, address multiple risks, and promote global food security.

Highlights

Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of global food supply and raised the specter of a global food crisis [9,10]
Based on a review of the existing literature, we found that the pattern and evolution of the global cereal trade system, focusing on three staple crops simultaneously, received little attention

Summary

Introduction

Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. With the deepening development of globalization, the importance of global food trade to food security has been widely recognized [11]. As the resource endowment and the levels of food production and consumption are different among countries, global trade has become a great way to adjust the disconnect between supply and demand and contribute to the sustainable utilization of resources [14,15]. Global food trade can expose countries to external supply risks due to the increased interdependence of food security among countries [16]. Trade entities and their relationships have formed a global food trade system; it is helpful to clarify the status and interdependence of different countries in. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion