Trade Production Research Articles

An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Forage Product Trade on Grassland Quality and Livestock Production in China

The restoration of grassland ecosystems and the development of the livestock industry in China are constrained by a gap in livestock feed supply and demand. The importation of forage products, as an important means to bridge this feed gap, deserves attention for its relationship with grassland quality and livestock production. This paper empirically examines the relationship between forage products trade and grassland quality, as well as livestock production. The paper uses a cointegration test and error correction model based on data on forage product trade, grassland quality, and livestock production in seven livestock-type regions from 2006 to 2020. The results show that forage product trade has a long-term stable equilibrium relationship with grassland quality in China. The relationships between forage product trade and livestock production in different livestock-type regions are heterogeneous. Among these heterogeneous results, livestock production in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, Loess Plateau Region, Southwest Mountain Region, and Northeast Region are closely related to forage product trade. It appears that importation of feed reduces pressure on natural grasslands, as well as providing high-quality feed that improves livestock production. The above findings can help explain the characteristics of livestock production in different livestock-type regions in China, as well as provide empirical evidence and new ideas for restoring grassland environments and developing herbivorous animal husbandry.

The first compliance cycle of China’s National Emissions Trading Scheme: insights and implications

China’s national Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the largest ETS in terms of the amount of CO2 regulated, was launched on the trading platform operated by the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange (SEEE) on July 16th 2021, and has successfully completed its first compliance cycle on December 30th, 2021. During the operation of its first cycle, China’s national ETS differs from other international ETSs in many aspects, including trading products and participants, allowance allocation method, compliance term, and offset mechanism, leading to certain unique trading patterns. Some unique settings are worth noticing including key emitters dominated by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) who also dominate transactions, large-scale power groups’ carbon strategies, allowances for 2 years of 2019 and 2020 being processed in one compliance period and allowed inter-year banking of allowances. All these have led to trading patterns characterized by cyclical demand-driven trading, insufficient trading capabilities of regulated entities, stable allowance price and an increased price of CCER. Nonetheless, the successful running of its first compliance cycle offers invaluable experience for future ETS development in operational mechanism improvement, sector coverage expansion, allocation optimization, and introduction of different types of market players and tradable products, and provides a good reference for future international expansion.

Milk quality and safety in the informal sector in Assam, India: governance, perceptions, and practices

This paper explores how the safety of milk and dairy products is understood and managed within the informal dairy sector of Guwahati, the largest city in Assam, north-east India. The article contributes to a growing body of literature that questions negative assumptions about food safety in informal markets, and seeks to understand how access to safe and healthy food for all is, or can be, achieved in these markets. The study combines a literature review of the informal dairy sector in Assam and India with a field survey and key informant interviews. A survey of 113 producers, intermediaries, retailers, traditional processors and consumers, provides insights into how people think about the safety of milk, and the everyday practices they employ to mitigate food safety risks when trading and consuming dairy products. Our findings suggest that, in the absence of formal guarantees of quality and safety, consumers’ cultural practices and producers’ and traders’ knowledge likely reduce the risks of consuming raw milk. Despite the informal dairy sector receiving little direct government support in India, we found that at the state level, there has been some cooperation between government officials, small-scale producers and informal traders. We conclude that the absence of adverse relations between these groups, together with proactive attempts at collaboration, could inform other Indian states’ approaches to food safety governance, and are a positive foundation for future improvements to food safety in Assam’s dairy sector.

Trade Integration and Production Disintegration of Manufacturing Industries: India in Global Platform

The bulk of the world trade in commodities now a days consist of intermediate goods, which play an essential role in production and creation of value-added. As a consequence, the global production process is getting much more integrated today than ever before. To understand and examine this internationalisation in Indian manufacturing industries, using World Input–Output Database (WIOD), we have estimated the foreign and domestic value-added contents in export and output of Indian manufacturing for the period 2000 to 2014. Further, to complement this analysis, we have also performed regression estimations to identify the relationship between export, imported inputs use, and output growth of Indian manufacturing industries. Our study reveals low usage of domestic inputs use and more usage of imported inputs. These indicate stronger backward linkages in production and weak forward linkages in global consumption and production networks. Regression analysis also strengthens the finding of higher backward participation of the manufacturing sector. We have employed panel vector error correction model, fully modified ordinary least square and dynamic OLS models. Our results reveal a robust long-run causality between imported inputs usage and export-growth of the sector. JEL Codes: C33, C67, F14, F15

The wings of Daedalus: The business and politics of the linen trade in late seventeenth-century England

This article focuses on English linen drapers – retail and wholesale traders – during Charles II’s reign. These businesspeople became notable proponents of proposals to prohibit French imports of linens into England, but also to settle linen production domestically. Such proposals derived from the context of a Francophobic, anti-Catholic politics of religion which, by the 1670s, had manifested in efforts to ‘defend’ English Protestants from the various threats which ‘popery’ and ‘arbitrary government’ were held to represent, not least in the form of French Counter-Reformation, absolutism, and expansionism, and the likelihood of a Roman Catholic successor to the English throne, James, Duke of York. Linen drapers’ participation in debates about the balance of trade and domestic linen production reflect how the linen trade became a point at which this Reformed Protestant, Dissenting, and Whig politics of religion and politics of trade intersected, cohered, and was cultivated.

Design (Allocation) of a Carbon Emission System—A Lesson from Power Restrictions in Zhejiang, China

This paper discusses how to design (allocate) a city-level carbon emission system, considering the recent outbreak (end of 2020) of electricity consumption restrictions in a few cities in Zhejiang, China. Although these measures aimed to achieve environmental goals, they had a certain negative impact on residents’ lives and foreign trade production. This paper argues that local authorities should be more flexible in formulating performance targets, incorporate interactive feedback in performance management, and utilize assessment results and better government internal control. This paper proposes a (national) strategic plan to achieve carbon control through the implementation of a circular economy, such as the design of a carbon emission system considering the economic development (supporting industry) in each city and a city-level carbon trading market.

Research on the Relationship between Agricultural Carbon Emission Intensity, Agricultural Economic Development and Agricultural Trade in China

Under the interactive background of more emphasis on low-carbon and environmentally friendly agricultural production modes and the coordinated development of agricultural foreign trade, China is paying more and more attention to the coordination between agricultural trade, economic development and ecological agriculture development. This paper selects the relevant data of China from 2002 to 2020 as the research object. Taking the agricultural carbon emission intensity as an indicator of environmental pollution, measuring it and then constructing a time series model for analysis, the research finds that, in the long run, the increase in agricultural carbon emission intensity in China will reduce the level of agricultural trade by 2%, which will also lead to a decline in the overall development level of the agricultural economy by 2 to 4 percent. At the same time, this paper also finds that the current situation of China’s agricultural trade reduces the development of China’s agriculture by 1%, which will also lead to an increase in agricultural carbon emission intensity by about 0.5%. Finally, this paper finds that the development of the agricultural economy makes the overall increase in agricultural trade 2%, and with the development of the agricultural economy, the agricultural carbon emission intensity decreases by 0.1%, but the impact is small. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the construction of a leadership mechanism, implement the development strategy of low-carbon agriculture and provide corresponding financial security and other policy suggestions to promote the coordinated development of China’s agricultural trade and low-carbon agricultural production environment.

China’s Carbon Market in the Context of Carbon Neutrality: Legal and Policy Perspectives

China’s carbon market covers a huge amount of emissions, but the effects of emission reduction in the early stages are limited. This study explores the regulation of policies and laws on the carbon market through doctrinal and empirical research in the field of law. The study reveals that although the national carbon market witnessed a considerable quota trading volume, the peak of trading is concentrated and accompanied by a high compliance rate. The total amount of quotas in the first compliance cycle is too large, coupled with a single trading product, and participants in the early stage fail to activate the carbon market, making it difficult to form the carbon pricing mechanism in the market. The legal factors behind this phenomenon are related to the total amount setting mode and the construction route from simple to complex. Based on the above analysis, this study concludes with the following path to improve China’s legislation. To comply with cap and trade, China must improve the setting mechanism of total quotas to form an investment field that participates in multiple entities; effectively play the role of carbon trading in market regulation; and guarantee smooth operation through penalty and reward coordination and a unified MRV mechanism.

The overall and time-varying efficiency test for the carbon market in China

This paper analyzes the overall and time-varying efficiency of China's carbon market, which is crucial for carbon risk management and policymaking. Due to the severe illiquidity problems other pilots face, we first select Shenzhen, Guangdong, and Hubei pilots out of the eight carbon pilots for our study based on the statistical analysis. We then test the overall efficiency of the markets using the LM, CD, and Wild-Bootstrap variance ratio test. The sliding window method is combined with the above three variance ratio test methods to validate the time-varying efficiency. The results prove that the overall efficiency of the three carbon pilots has not yet reached a weak form. And we observe that the short-term efficiency is time-varying and may be weak-form. The study further found Hubei to be the most efficient carbon pilot, followed by Guangdong and Shenzhen. Finally, this paper conducts a qualitative analysis on the low efficiency from five aspects namely carbon trading rules, market liquidity, price volatility, trading volume, and types of trading products. Several conclusions and recommendations are proposed for policymakers and investors.

A Study on the Current Situation, Problems and Responsive Measures of Building China’s National Carbon Market

Carbon emissions trading is a major innovation in the practice of using market mechanism to control and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promote green and low-carbon development. It is an important way to achieve China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals (the “dual carbon” goals) at a relatively low cost. Starting late and having gone through three development stages, China’s national carbon market has entered a new stage. However, given the problems such as incomplete institutional, regulatory and carbon emissions verification systems, less balanced and vibrant market, limited transaction entities and trading products, and lack of voice due to insufficient participation in relevant international affairs, continuous efforts are still required to further improve this market by deepening reform, strengthening capacity building and increasing international cooperation.

Tributary World-Ecologies, Part II

This essay—the second in a two part series—reconceptualizes the High Medieval Mediterranean World as a tributary world-ecology. Area Studies view the High Medieval Mediterranean as a culturally fragmented world, while the Commercialization Theorists only unite these fragments externally through trade relations. In contrast, Marxist Theorists almost exclusively focus on Medieval Europe through production relations. I argue that the High Medieval Mediterranean can be theorized as a tributary world-ecology. I advance two interrelated arguments. First, I underline the socio-ecological similarities and differences between the North Sea (addressed in Part I) and the Mediterranean Worlds. The Mediterranean world-ecology was premised upon the breakdown of world-imperial redistribution mechanisms and localization of peasant exploitation. This was exemplified by the development of iqta’, pronoia and similar land-tenure regimes across the Mediterranean World. The localization peasant exploitation, however, did not result in autarchy, but rather in the formation of a world-market. In fact, novel agrarian relations, coupled with the climatological upturn and technological innovations, led to the growth of surpluses in the hands of the aristocracies. This in turn stimulated artisanal production and revival of trade. Consequently, the Mediterranean World, like the North Sea World, witnessed further geographical integration and economic growth. Second, I emphasize the similarities and differences between the crises of the North Sea and the Mediterranean Worlds. Their socio-ecological relations reached their limits when the climate began to cool and destabilize, and organizational innovations could no longer produce sufficient surpluses. Consequently, both world-ecologies collapsed, finding its clearest expression in the Black Death. In turn, the Mediterranean, just like the end of the Roman period, disintegrated. The Western Mediterranean and the North Seas were integrated on the basis of capitalist productive and commercial networks, resulting in the birth of European capitalist world-ecology. In contrast, the Eastern Mediterranean would be reintegrated on the basis of the tributary networks of the Ottoman World-Empire.

Penggunaan Inventory Turn Over dalam menentukan Purchase Order sebagai Syarat Pemesanan Barang Distributor

PT. Multisari Langgengjaya is a company engaged in the distributor for food and beverages, as well as the sole distributor or distributor of the food company PT. Marizarasa Sarimurni. Distributor companies currently need information about the trading products that are governed by the management of logistics. Especially the management of distributor warehouse with a lot of product item quantity, so the needed product procurement plan in the Logistics section. It is currently at PT. Multisari Langgengjaya is quite convincing by utilizing the standard of Inventory Turn Over (ITO) calculation that becomes the reference during the order process or Purchase Order (PO) with the manufacturer. Logistics became the first analyst as the determination of ordering goods to be stored by the warehouse for a period of one month ahead. In the research done will be seen how the ITO calculation determines the ordering of goods and how much it affects the logistics of PT. Multisari Langgengjaya. To analyse this research using Unified Modelling Language (UML) to illustrate the current procedures and processes

The Rapid and Accurate Detection of Kidney Bean Seeds Based on a Compressed Yolov3 Model

Due to their rich nutritional value, kidney beans are considered one of the major products of international agricultural trade. The conventional method used for the manual detection of seeds is inefficient and may damage the test object. To locate and classify different kidney bean seeds rapidly and accurately, the Yolov3 network has been improved to realize seed detection in the current paper. Firstly, a dataset of 10 varieties of kidney bean seeds was produced and 1292 images were collected. Then, the dataset was divided into the training, validation, and test sets with the assigned ratio of 8:1:1. The kidney bean seeds dataset was trained using the Yolov3 model. Additionally, the implemented speed needed to be guaranteed while satisfying the detection accuracy. To meet such detection requirements, the Yolov3 model was pruned using the scaling factors of the batch normalization layer as a measure of channel importance, and finally fine-tuned with the aid of knowledge distillation. Then, the Yolov3, Yolov3-tiny, Yolov4, and the improved Yolov3 were used to detect the images in the test set. Subsequently, the performances of these four networks were compared. The results show that the model pruning method can compress the model to a great extent, and the number of model parameters is reduced by 98%. The detection time is shortened by 59%, and the average accuracy reaches 98.33%. Considering the speed and mAP, the improved Yolov3 detected the best results. The experimental results demonstrate that the method can accomplish the rapid and accurate detection of kidney bean seeds. It can provide a solid foundation for the marketing and planting of kidney bean seeds.

Crowding out local initiative in the protection of heritage agri-food specialties: The growing hegemony of sui generis Geographical Indication in East Asia

The comprehensive uptake of geographical indication (GI) worldwide suggests that global trade is at the threshold of mainstreaming protections for heritage agri-food specialties. The European GI model is in ascendance thanks to a campaign of institutional entrepreneurship that engendered a powerful macro-organization leading the rapid diffusion of sui generis GI. Through its success in recruiting the intellectual property regimes of most East Asian countries into the European orbit of trade and cultural production, it has become hegemonic, with the potential for ‘crowding out’ useful pre-existing mechanisms of heritage food protection or displacing exchange in agri-food specialties still embedded in the moral economy. Although this new global standard is shaped by the process of integration into new milieux, this paper finds that latent post-colonial tendencies in the European GI model and its poor capacity at self-reflection in the face of inefficiency compromises its potentially unifying role in the heritage food world order.

Agarwood research at the Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam: A review

Agarwood is a valuable non-timber forest product in international trade regulated under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). One of the Scientific Authorities of CITES working on agarwood is the Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI). The paper reviews the research by the RFRI on agarwood and indicates the road ahead, which will be relevant for the whole country. The research till date has revolved around distribution, genetic variation, tree improvement, silviculture, agroforestry, artificial induction of agarwood, pests and diseases and their control, besides NDF (Non-Detriment Finding) study and fixing of export quota. Research is required on the post-harvest processing, products, their diversification, chemistry, grading, quality control, trade and socio-economics. The Institute has a key role to balance the demands of trade with conservation.

ISOLATION AND SCREENING OF FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH DISEASED RIVER CATFISH, Pangasius hypophthalmus

The production of river catfish Pangasius hypophthalmus trade has increased significantly over the past decade. Concerning the high demand for river catfish, P. hypophthalmus, these freshwater fish are susceptible to fungi infection that can cause mortality to individual and fish eggs. This study has been conducted to identify the morphology of isolated fungi and their extracellular- enzymes for virulent screening. Three fishes with apparent signs of infection such as ulcerative, haemorrhages and dermal lesions were collected from the fish cage culture at Kampung Serada, Kuala Terengganu. Fungi were isolated from the fish externally (fin, skin, mouth, gill) and internal organs (kidney and liver). The fungal morphology was characterised macroscopically by observing the colony features such as margin, pigmentation (colour), elevation, texture and shape of fungi on an agar plate. Meanwhile, for micromorphology observation were characterised the fungi structure includes the spore, hyphae, and conidiaphore. Based on the identification using a general key to characteristics moulds, two fungi have been classified into two genera: Rhizopus-like sp and Geomyces-like sp. These fungi proceeded with extracellular enzyme tests such as the proteolysis assay, amylases test and lipases test. The reaction enzymes of fungi from the amylases test showed the clearing zone around the radial colony growth of fungi. The test strain of fungi screened during the present investigation proved to be an efficient producer of protein and polysaccharide degrading enzymes. Rhizopus-like sp and Geomyces-like sp to produce extracellular amylase enzyme indicated the virulent characteristic of the isolate and the ability of those fungi to initiate infection or resist harsh environments and treatments.

Determinants of Air Cargo Demand in The European Region

Air cargo demand estimation is crucial for every part of the air industry for determining policies, making decisions on investments, pricing, marketing, etc. This study analyses factors affecting the air cargo demand of the European Region (23 countries) where no studies were found by making use of the two-step generalized method of moments (GMM). The effects of Total Airport Investments, Consumer Price Index, GDP Per Capita, Population, Foreign Trade Volume, Industrial Production Index, and Exchange Rate on Air Cargo Demand were examined with the data set covering the years between 2009 and 2018. The findings indicated that previous air cargo demand has explanatory power on current demand, and there was an inverse relationship between the change in the consumer price index and the amount of cargo. In addition, the panel regression estimator indicates a positive relationship between Foreign Trade and Industrial Production Index. The results show that price stability is of great importance not only from a macroeconomic perspective but micro economically also.

Morphologically Similar, but Regionally Distinct: Perdiz Arrow Points from Caddo Burial Contexts in the American Southeast

ABSTRACT Generally considered diagnostic of Late Prehistoric Toyah assemblages, Perdiz arrow points are characteristic of the transition from the Late Prehistoric to the Protohistoric. If larger Perdiz arrow points from Caddo burials are conceived of as products of trade and/or exchange with Toyah groups, then those with longer blade lengths provide inference to shifts in Caddo selective preference, while those with shorter blade lengths evince local approaches to resharpening and/or retouch that were uniquely Caddo. This study asks whether linear shape variables convey discrete regional resharpening strategies, whether morphological trajectories differ between the northern and southern behavioral regions, and whether morphological disparity differs between larger and smaller size classes, as defined by differences in blade length. Results demonstrate distinct regional resharpening strategies and divergent morphological trajectories for Perdiz arrow points included as Caddo mortuary offerings in the northern and southern behavioral regions.

원제국 외래 香藥과 카안의 賞賜 ― 南海海上 생산 香藥을 중심으로 ―

This study examined the distribution and consumption of herbal medicines in the Yuan, which was traded as the main product in international trade in the 13th and 14th centuries. This study focused on herbal medicines produced in the Southern coastal region, which ranged from Southeast Asia to India, and flowed into the Yuan. This research confirmed that rare herbal medicines produced in the southern coastal region and other countries were valued by Mongol rulers and were not only used in the herbal medicines and cuisines in the Mongol court but also served as imperial gifts.BR After annexing the Southern Song, the Mongol advanced to the ocean and began to form political relations with countries on the southeastern coast and begin international trade with the southern maritime powers. Although maritime trade did not take place due to the fierce opposition in the southern maritime reigimes, a full-fledged maritime trade system was established postwar in the late 13th century, and the trade between the Yuan and southern maritime regimes began under the leadership of various people, including soldiers, bureaucrats, and merchants. Shibo(市舶) trade began at this point, as per the Southern Song dynasty’s maritime policy. According to Zhizheng Simingzhi(『至正四明志』), herbal medicines accounted for 170 products out of a total of 220 types of products that were imported through maritime trade. These products were not only imported from Southeast Asia but also countries in West and East Asia. A portion of the herbal medicine that reached the trade port was collected as tax in accordance with the Yuan’s shibo(市舶) regulations, and the rest were circulated in the markets.BR Yuyaoyuanfang(『御藥院方』), a book on medicine publishe d in the Yuan Empire, includes the recipes and effects of medicines prepared for the Mongol Qaghans. The list of medicinal herbs that were used confirms that herbal medicines presented or imported from Southern maritime powers were used as essential ingredients. Yinshanzhengyao(『飮膳正要』), a cookbook for Mongolian rulers, also introduces foreign herbal medicines as food ingredients, which shows that foreign herbal medicines were used as spices and that the herbal medicines from the southern sea, in particular, were used in medicinal drinks consumed by the ruling class, including the Mongol Rulers. The medicines or medicinal herbs prepared in the Yuan royal court were also bestowed on Imperial family members, court ministers, and Keshigs as imperial gifts or were shared among the ruling class, with the imported herbal medicines as the main ingredients. Such findings suggest that the herbal medicines and related knowledge brought into East Asia as maritime trade became active in the 10th century were transmitted to the Yuan empire through Mongol’s maritime policy and that the herbal medicines were shared among the Mongol Imperial Members as a privilege.

An Alternative to Index-Based Gas Sourcing Using Neural Networks

An index on the gas market commonly refers to the average price of a certain trading product, e.g., over the period of one month. Index-based sourcing is a widely-used habit in modern gas business. Risks are reduced by averaging prices over the purchasing period. Due to the significant volume, there have been many attempts to ”beat the index”, i.e., to design a strategy that, over time, offers cheaper prices than the index. Here, we use neural networks to identify n, n∈N, optimal shopping points. Both classification- and forecasting-based strategies are tested to decide on each trading day if gas should be purchased or not. Thereby, we use the Front Month index based on prices from the Dutch Title Transfer Facility as an example. Regarding cumulative performance, all but a very simple myopic algorithm are able to outperform the index. However, each strategy has its flaws and some positive results are due to the price increase during 2021. If one opts for an active sourcing strategy, then a forecasting-based approach is the best choice.