Banana trade in the European Union: interaction between suppliers and importers through network analysis
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Abstract
Due to the importance of the European Union market in the commercialization of bananas and the relevance of the banana sector in producing countries such as Costa Rica, it is of interest to understand the dynamics and trade flows between suppliers and importers, which allow characterizing the structure of the banana market in the European Union. The objective of this research was to characterize the trade flows of bananas in the European market through social network analysis. The research was developed in the period August-December 2021. An international banana trade database was built, which was analyzed using the social network approach. The main distribution algorithm used was Yifan Hu Proportional. Additionally, complementary metrics such as in-degree, out-degree, weighted degree, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, eigenvector centrality, and mean path length were used. As part of the results, five commercial relationship profiles were identified, which allowed dimensioning the banana market structure in the European Union and the potential opportunities for interaction between commercial partners. This information represents a key input in the formation of commercial strategies for banana exporting countries, Latin America being a relevant actor in the global supply chain. The behavior of banana marketing flows in the European Union market was characterized by its high complexity, since it showed heterogeneous degrees of interaction between partner countries, global supply of the fruit and intra-regional trade. It is recommended to expand the research with subsequent longitudinal studies that allow the identification of structural changes over time.
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