Worldwide Rabbit Meat Trade

In the past 60 years, the global rabbit industry has been growing steadily. This chapter studies global rabbit meat production, trade and consumption. First, rabbit meat production and regional structure are introduced, as the basis of trade and consumption. Then, the global rabbit meat trade is studied in detail, including trade growth, regional structural changes, comparative advantages and competitiveness of major countries. Finally, a Gravity model is built to test major factors affecting rabbit meat trade and to explore the behind-the-trade scenes. The results show that: (1) Global rabbit industry had achieved great progress from 397 thousand tonnes (1961) to 893 thousand tonnes (2020); (2) Rabbit meat trade had been increasing for about 20 years from 1961 to 1979, then it fluctuated for another 20 years. However, since 2001 it has been stable with only small fluctuations, the average output being around 30 thousand tonnes; (3) The Gravity model results show that the rabbit meat trade is driven mainly by demand. In this way, some suggestions and policy implications are provided.