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The impact of the belt and road initiative on Chinese PV firms’ export expansion

Author

Listed:
  • Xiangdong Zhu

    (Guangdong Institute of Public Administration
    Peking University)

  • Zhutong Gu

    (Meituan, Inc.)

  • Canfei He

    (Peking University)

  • Wei Chen

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

The photovoltaic (PV) industry experienced a drastic overcapacity, leading to heightened market competition in 2009. After the overcapacity, the EU and the USA initiated trade barriers targeting Chinese PV goods in 2011, stimulating China to seek alternative markets. In 2013, China announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Although the BRI is a framework of international cooperation instead of a specific strategy that aims at PV industry, its role in helping Chinese PV firms deal with the trade sanction should be addressed. Based on the data from Chinese Custom Trade Statistics spanning 2009 to 2016, this paper precisely quantifies the extent of PV trade deflection from China to BRI markets that can be ascribed to the BRI effects. Employing spatial analysis, we manifest the trade deflection on maps. Moreover, we adopt the linear probability models and panel logit models to investigate the impact of BRI on China’s PV export expansion. The results show that BRI markets provide a buffer area for Chinese PV enterprises to alleviate their loss caused by trade sanctions. The BRI facilitated 4751 million more PV products conveyed from China to BRI markets from 2013 to 2016, occupying about 33.25% of the total export from China to BRI markets. Chinese PV firms prefer to explore the BRI markets than the rest of the world. Compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), non-SOEs are more active in entering BRI countries. However, no significant difference had been detected in BRI effects on SOEs and non-SOEs. It was noted that a robust local industrial basement related to the PV industry can potentially ease firms’ transition to BRI markets. Comparatively, firms situated in central China have benefited more from the BRI than their counterparts in the coastal and western regions. Furthermore, the BRI encourages Chinese PV enterprises to venture into countries with low economic complexity. This paper provides novel insights into BRI by validating BRI’s effects on Chinese PV firms’ export expansion. On the one hand, unlike previous BRI research that rarely considers the unstable external environment, we validate that the BRI can provide a spare market for China when it competes with developed countries. On the other hand, by investigating the roles of firms, regions and destinations, our results are enlightening for renewable energy industrial and trade policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiangdong Zhu & Zhutong Gu & Canfei He & Wei Chen, 2024. "The impact of the belt and road initiative on Chinese PV firms’ export expansion," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 25763-25783, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10668-023-03705-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-03705-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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