Efficiency and Potential of China′s Vegetable Exports to ‘Belt and Road’ Countries

Using the stochastic frontier gravity model, we investigated the efficiency and influencing factors of China′s vegetable exports to ‘Belt and Road’ countries from 2010 to 2019,and analyzed the market space and trade potential of China′s vegetable exports.The study found that China′s vegetable export trade to ‘Belt and Road’ countries was gradually growing, butthe export product structure and export market concentration was high.The economy and population size of the ‘Belt and Road’ countries, and the population size of China were significantly positively correlated with China′s vegetables exports, while China′s population size and geographical distance were significantly negatively correlated with the export of vegetables.Government efficiency, free trade agreement and financial freedom played a significant role in improving trade efficiency, while logistics performance, trade freedom and whether to join the WTO limit the improvement of trade efficiency.The average trade efficiency of Chinese vegetable exports to ‘Belt and Road’ countries was 0.51,China had the highest vegetable export efficiency to countries in southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries.In terms of trade potential, the export potential to countries like India, Russia and Indonesia was high.This study complemented the research on vegetable trade between China and ‘Belt and Road’ countries, which had implications for fully tapping the potential of short-and long-term Chinese vegetable export trade, and continuously expand China′s vegetable export trade, to realize mutual benefit and win-win in foreign trade was of enlightening significance.