International Trade Pattern Of Major Lithium Ore Products:Based On The Theory Of Complex Network

As a small type of mineral product, lithium attracted less attention than bulk mineral products.In recent years, with the expansion of the application field, especially with the development of lithium ion batteries, Lithium demand has been greatly stimulated. As an important support for the development of strategic emerging industries, lithium is regarded as a new economic growth point. Due to differences in resource endowments and production technology, many countries rely on imports to meet domestic demand. The lithium trade volume accounts for 70% of the world total consumption. Therefore, it has important practical significance for the scientific policy making in international lithium product trade, the breaking through of the bottleneck of resources, the changing of the mode of development, and the implementation of innovation driven development strategy for China.By sorting out the current situation of industry research and the development of international trade theory, and analyzing the feasibility and advantages of introducing the complex network theory into the study of international lithium product trade, the paper selects three lithium ore products as the research objectives and establishes three complex network models. The three lithium ore products include intermediate products lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, and terminal products primary lithium battery. Through calculation and analysis of such indexes as degree, weighted degree, network density, clustering coefficient, betweenness centrality and network structure, the paper shows the international trade pattern of three lithium ore products from 2005 to 2014, and quantitatively reflects the role China plays in international trade of the three products.The main innovation of this paper is to introduce the complex network model into the study on international trade pattern of lithium products, and by the establishment of three models in international trade, it analyzes and reveals the overall pattern of lithium products international trade and conducts the quantitative study of the evolution and composition of the communities. China’s position in international trade of lithium ore products was also analyzed. The study finds that from the whole process from production, processing to trade, lithium ore products present the characteristics of concentration; the important producing and consuming countries of the three kinds of lithium ore products in international trade constitute quadrilateral, triangular and radial structures respectively; China,United States and Germany are dominant players in international trade of lithium ore products, playing the leading role in the formation of their respective communities; On the whole, China is the core of the international trade pattern of the three kinds of lithium ore products. However, the former two products are faced with the challenges of high degree of dependence on a single country and the issue of risk concentration, and for the primary lithium battery, the ability to control resources doesn’t match the trade volume. Based on the above conclusions, To set the ball rolling for more scientific practice, the paper puts forwards several suggestions, including enhancing the domestic research and development of Saline Lake lithium resources through scientific and technological innovation to improve bargaining power, adjusting and improving the lithium products international trade structure, getting access to the upstream resources in foreign countries with rich endowment in lithium and starting relevent policy research in advance.