Assessing the Competitiveness and Complementarity of the Agricultural Products Trade between Korea and CPTPP Countries

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the competitiveness and complementarity of the agricultural products trade between Korea and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) countries. The study evaluates the opportunities and challenges that Korea's agricultural sector faces after joining the CPTPP, and suggests strategies to deepen cooperation and expand Korea's agricultural products trade. Design/methodology – To achieve these objectives, we analyze the trade competition and cooperation relationship between Korea and CPTPP countries in the agricultural products trade. This study uses data from Chapters HS1-24 in UN Comtrade from 2012 to 2022, and applies the indices of revealed comparative advantage, export similarity, and trade complementarity to examine the trade dynamics. Furthermore, we use an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model to predict the agricultural products trade complementarity index between Korea and CPTPP countries from 2022 to 2031. Findings – The findings of our analysis reveal that Korea's agricultural products trade competitiveness is weak compared to that of CPTPP countries, and Korea's agricultural products are at a competitive disadvantage. On the whole, the similarity index of agricultural products trade exports between Korea and CPTPP countries is low, the structure of agricultural products export is quite different, and trade competition is relatively moderate. The trade complementarity index between Korea and CPTPP countries is generally high, with strong complementarity and a large space for cooperation and development. The ARIMA model shows that in the next ten years, although the agricultural products trade complementarity index fluctuates, but is generally high, there will still be a complementarity advantage in the future. Originality/value – This study is the first attempt to investigate the competitiveness and complementarity of the agricultural products trade between Korea and CPTPP countries. We also introduce an ARIMA model to forecast and analyze the future agricultural products trade complementarity index. Our study provides new perspectives and solutions for the future development of Korea's agricultural products trade after joining the CPTPP.