Evaluation of Latvia-China trade potential

Abstract

International trade always has been a source of wealth for countries engaged in the process. Lately, European Union (EU) and Latvia is facing new challenges in for of trade restrictions and protectionism with the trade partners. One of the latest cases of Russian asymmetric sanctions in the form of food trade embargo left EU with difficult task of trade redirection and more intense local market competition. With the UK leaving EU case on the horizon all EU countries are facing the same problem – where to find new markets with high demand potential. The largest EU economies, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Netherlands have already expanded their trade all over the world to diversify the risk of being too much dependant on several trade partners. This is also the case for Latvia – there is necessity to find new potential markets. The aim of the research is to evaluate Latvia - China trade potential in terms of Latvia’s export opportunities. Methods used in the research: Study of the literature on the export market evaluation and trade data analysis. Research involves usage of potential export market evaluation with Decision Support Model. Research is very topical in context of Latvia’s necessity of market diversification since Russia has food trade embargo (since August 7, 2014) and it is unclear future about trade regulations with the UK with the process of UK leaving European Union (BREXIT).