Evaluation of the International Competitiveness of Bulk Agricultural Products among RCEP Member Countries and the Study of Influencing Factors

Based on the trade data of six major agricultural products in selected representative member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) from 2010 to 2019, this study chooses and calculated three indicative indicators that could reflect a country's international competitiveness in agricultural products from different perspectives. The study employed the TOPSIS model based on the entropy weight method to determine the influencing factors of agricultural products' international competitiveness for each indicator. It computed scores for each country's agricultural products' international competitiveness and ranked them accordingly. Furthermore, it selected seven independent variables from the perspectives of agricultural foundation, national development, and transportation conditions. The partial least squares regression model was established to analyze the regression of the three indicative indicators separately. The empirical results demonstrated that Indonesia, India, and China had the strongest international competitiveness in agricultural products. The proportion of agricultural value-added to GDP, the value of agricultural production, and political stability significantly influenced the international competitiveness of agricultural products in a country.