Navigating Interdependence and Vulnerability in Global Food Systems: How Agricultural Trade Shapes Resilience under Market Volatility and Compound Shocks

International agricultural trade has become a central component of contemporary food systems, connecting production and consumption across regions while simultaneously creating new forms of exposure to external disturbances. This paper examines the relationship between agricultural trade integration, market volatility and food-system resilience through a structured review of recent literature. Particular attention is given to trade-network configuration, supplier concentration, climate-related production shocks, international price transmission, export restrictions, geopolitical disruptions and supply-chain adaptation. The literature indicates that international trade can strengthen food security by diversifying sources of supply, facilitating spatial risk pooling and allowing production and consumption to adjust to changing comparative advantages. However, the same interconnectedness can transmit production failures, price shocks and policy disturbances across countries, particularly where import dependence and supplier concentration are high. Evidence from COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and climate-related production disturbances further demonstrates that resilience depends on more than physical food availability. Purchasing power, logistics, institutional capacity, strategic reserves, diversified sourcing and adaptive governance also determine whether food systems can absorb disruptions. The review consequently suggests that resilient food systems require a balanced combination of domestic productive capacity, diversified international trade, institutional coordination and adaptive supply-chain structures rather than exclusive reliance on either self-sufficiency or unrestricted globalization.