The Study on Competitiveness and Complementarity of Fruit Trade between China and ASEAN

Abstract

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has officially entered into force, providing institutional support and exerting a far-reaching impact on the deepening of fruit trade between China and ASEAN. Based on the relevant data from 2019 to 2023 in the UN Comtrade Database, this paper sorts out the current situation of bilateral fruit trade, and adopts the RCA, TC and TCI indices to measure and analyze its competitiveness and complementarity.The empirical results show that the two sides have formed a differentiated pattern in line with their resource endowments: China has a strong advantage in temperate fruits such as apples and pears and some processed fruits, while ASEAN holds an absolute advantage in tropical fruits such as durians and bananas; the complementarity of ASEAN’s exports to China is significantly higher than that of China’s exports to ASEAN. Meanwhile, it is found that there are problems such as imbalance, single structure and low added value in bilateral trade. Accordingly, this paper puts forward suggestions to address these pain points and promote the high-quality development of bilateral fruit trade, including deepening industrial chain coordination, improving the RCEP trade support system, expanding niche markets by relying on cross-border e-commerce, and jointly building branded processing parks.