Exploring The Potentiality Of Food Trade Between Democratic Republic Of Congo And China

Congo is located in central Africa its economy is relatively backward.At present,the country’s main characteristics are: higher population growth rate,low productivity and stagnation of agriculture,political faction’s conflict,weak system and poor infrastructure.Congo is a large agricultural country,which has about 80 million hectares of arable land and 4million hectares of irrigated land;80% of the population living in rural areas.Agriculture remains the second largest economy,second only to mining,but before manufacturing.Most African low-income countries live in sub Saharan Africa,accounting for 2/3 of the total population;these countries have always been a net importer of food;although they rarely imported grain per capita(the value is $17annually per capita),but due to the export of limited income,it is difficult for them to cover the imported food costs.Congo is Africa’s second largest countries,but it is the largest country in south Sahara of Africa,and it is also the world’s eleventh largest(over 75 million population)in developing countries,food shortage has plagued the country.The purpose of this study is to quantitatively determine the influence factors of Congo imports of food,and the data of this study is from FAO official data base during 1961 to 2014,including the data of trade quantity and value on 5 groups of agricultural products(Staple food,Livestock,Oil-fat,Milks,Sugar).According to the comparative advantage of Congo main food trade,this study focuses on the agricultural products(cassava,maize,rice,millet,beans,chickpeas,Bambara,peanuts,palm oil,soybean,sesame,bananas,sweet potatoes,vegetables,coffee,tea,cotton,sugarcane);The study focused on the relationship between food imports and GDP and the price in Congo.The authors tried to use the Almost Ideal Demand System(AIDS)model to do quantitative research.The author analyzes the influence of GDP and price on the importance of food import.As the CIF price and income have significant impacts on the import of Congo food,the government has attached greater importance to food security to meet the needs of the future population,especially in the context of continued growth in GDP.This study mainly considers the influence of GDP and trade price;research gets a series of results,including the expenditure elasticity,own price elasticity and cross price elasticity,therefore,it will provide more accurate and more reference basis for the Congo food import policy.In addition,according to these elasticities,it is beneficial for the relevant departments of the Congo to use policy tools in a timely manner-income policy or price policy-to ensure food imports and food security.