Exploring The Impact Of The New Silk Road Rail On Agricultural Trade Between Europe (?) China

China’s recent rapid and continuing economic growth in combination with urbanization and industrialization have resulted in considerable demographic changes and altered consumption patterns amongst its population.Especially,a shift toward a westernized diet and a rising demand in foods of high quality standards have been identified,with imports of agricultural goods expected to further intensify by 2030.While the distribution of food flows is typically limited by geographic distance,flows of food are expected to increase along economic corridors and consumption areas with increasingly high food quality standards.The recently by China embarked on Belt and Road initiative aims to improve intercontinental connectivity and infrastructure,in order to reduce trade cost and foster trade across the enormous geographical area it encompasses between China and Europe.This paper utilizes the gravity model to investigate the impact of the New Silk Road intercontinental railways on European agricultural exports to China,and seeks to compare the magnitude of trade fostering effect between the New Silk Road intercontinental railways and levels of domestic railway infrastructure.To allow for a control and comparison,this study focuses on a sample of 23 EU members-of which 12 had established connections to the New Silk Road intercontinental railways prior to 2019.The findings show that the New Silk Road intercontinental railways have a positive effect on overall EU agricultural exports to China.The results further indicate that the magnitude of effect is sector dependant,with more time-sensitive sectors and those offering differentiated goods typical of the western diet experiencing the greatest effect.On the other hand,levels of domestic railway infrastructure exert larger influence in less time-sensitive sectors that offer goods with lower differentiation.