Analysis of Agri-Food Trade Structures
To Promote Agri-Food Trade Networks
In the Islamic Countries
46
3.2. Networks in Intra-OIC Agricultural Products Trade
Combining results on the export and import sides above reinforces the finding previously
mentioned that the trade networks of OIC member countries are relatively dispersed and
decentralized in geographical terms. In policy terms, it is difficult to characterize a single OIC
trade network as such, because member countries are typically highly reliant on exports to and
imports from non-OIC countries. As shown in Chapter 2, there is some degree of geographical
coherence within networks in some regions, but since geographical entities group together
countries that are OIC members and others that are not, the result is that from the standpoint of
the organization, trade relations remain dispersed. Having said that, there is clear evidence of
important intra- and inter-regional links among OIC member countries, but there is no clear
trend across time or products: results are highly specific to particular contexts, so policymakers
need to be alive to product and regional specificities to a more than usual degree when analyzing
their agricultural trade relations.
This section uses network analysis tools to summarize and interpret these findings for intra-OIC
trade in agricultural products. The analysis is undertaken at a relatively aggregate level, namely
the title level of the Annex 1 classification, because network analysis requires a relatively dense
trade matrix to be meaningful, and the data move in the opposite direction (i.e., more zero
entries) as they become more disaggregated. The title level is sufficient in this case to provide
the necessary information as to intra-OIC trade linkages. Analysis at a more disaggregated level,
such as individual products, would not provide meaningful policy insight due to the large
number of zeros in the bilateral trade matrix.
By contrast with the network analysis in Chapter 2, this case only considers trade flows among
OIC members. Non-OIC trade flows are excluded from consideration, so as highlighted above,
that necessarily focuses the analysis on a modest proportion of total trade for most countries.
Again, consideration is only given to the largest trade flow of each country to make graphical
analysis possible. In this case, intra-(red) and extra-regional (blue) trade are identified using the
three OIC regional groups. The discussion again proceeds descriptively, based on network
diagrams produced using the same algorithm as in Chapter 2.
For agri-food products, once non-OIC trade is excluded and the focus is on the largest remaining
trade flow, it is immediately clear that there is a strong regional element to intra-OIC trade in
this sector (Figure 23). Most OIC member countries have their largest intra-OIC trade flow with
a country in the same regional group, as indicated by red lines. There are exceptions, of course,
but as a general rule, intra-OIC trade has a strong regional dimension. This finding sits well with
the idea, noted above, that geographical proximity as well as regional integration initiatives play
an important role in determining trade flows. In terms of sub-networks, there is evidence of a
network within the OIC Arab Group, centered on Turkey, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, which also
played a hub role in global trade (see Chapter 2). In addition, there is a small Asian network and
two African networks, but there is also evidence of bilateral linkages that cannot easily be
interpreted in network terms.