关键词: 农产品, 市场分割, 演变趋势, 区域差异, 空间收敛

Abstract: Based on the agricultural product retail price index data of 31 provinces in China from 2000 to 2021, this paper uses the relative price method to measure the market segmentation degree of agricultural products, and uses Kernel density estimation method, Dagum Gini coefficient and spatial convergence model to explore the evolution trend, spatial differences and convergence characteristics of market segmentation. The results show that the market segmentation index of agricultural products in China shows a fluctuating downward trend. The eastern, central and western regions also show that trend, but the absolute difference of market segmentation in the central region is the smallest, and that in the werstern region is relatively high. There are obvious regional differences in China’s agricultural market segmentation. The overlapping degree of the market segmentation index between regions is the main source of the overall difference, but its contribution rate gradually decreases, and this change is mainly absorbed by the net difference between regions. In terms of the convergence characteristics, from the perspective of horizontal comparison, only the western region has σ convergence characteristics, showing that the dispersion of agricultural product market segmentation gradually decreases with time. From the perspective of vertical comparison, the market segmentation of agricultural products in China and the three regions has absolute β convergence and conditions β convergence characteristics, showing the trend of gradual convergence and development of agricultural product market segmentation over time. And one of the reasons for the β convergence trend is the spatial interaction effect of agricultural market segmentation among different provinces in China. Economic density and regional production advantages ease the degree of agricultural product market segmentation, while the improvement of technology gap aggravates the agricultural product market segmentation. This study provides an empirical basis for understanding the development trend of China’s agricultural market segmentation, promoting the coordinated development of regional markets, and exerting the scale effect of the market.

Key words: Agricultural Products, Market Segmentation, Evolution Trend, Regional Differences, Spatial Convergence