Change of global woody forest products trading network and relationship between large supply and demand countries

Abstract

In order to reveal the characteristics and trajectory of change of the global woody forest products trading network and grasp the change of status and the security of supply and demand of China in the global woody forest products trading network, this study constructed a directed weighted complex network model based on the global woody forest products trade data from 1993 to 2018, and mainly analyzed the overall change of the global woody forest products trading network, the change of node centrality, the change of trade group, the competition and cooperation relationship between large supply and demand countries, and the security of supply and demand in China’s woody forest products trade. The results show that: (1) The global woody forest products trade relations were becoming increasingly complex, the connectivity of the trading network was enhanced, and in essence, it was a point- to- point trade model with the characteristic of“small world”. The trade position of North America declined, the trade position of Asia, Oceania, and South America improved, and Europe was still the focus of woody forest products import and export trade. China, the Netherlands, France, and the United States controlled the information and resources of the woody forest products trading network, and played an important role as a bridge. (2) There were four trade groups in the global woody forest products trading network, and there was some overlap between groups. Regional economic cooperation organizations were an important reason for the change of trade groups. (3) China, the United States and Canada; Germany, Italy and France; the Netherlands and Belgium; the Netherlands and Germany; Belgium and France; and Germany and Poland were major trading partners to each other. China competed with the United States in the Japanese market, and competed with Brazil in the U.S. market. Canada, the United States, and Brazil competed in the Chinese market. In addition, among the G1, Germany, Britain, Italy, and France were the most important competitive markets. China, Russia, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, and Finland were the key hubs connecting intragroup and external trade. (4) It is very important to prevent targeted interruption to guarantee the security of supply and demand of China’s woody forest products. This research is of great significance for the development of China’s woody forest products trade, the security of woody industry, and the formulation of trade policies.