Abstract: Under the background of China's high dependence on foreign dairy products and the increasing uncertainty of world dairy trade,based on the perspective of ensuring the safety of China's dairy industry,this paper used a complex network model to study the overall characteristics of the EU dairy trade network,and described the individual characteristics from three dimensions: node strength, intermediary centrality and proximity centrality. The time-varying stochastic frontier gravity model is further introduced to test the structural characteristics of the EU dairy trade network and the internal relationship between China's dairy import efficiency. The results showed that the EU's dairy trade is becoming more and more intense,and there is strong heterogeneity among member states. Intermediary centrality, proximity to centrality,and output intensity promote the efficiency of dairy trade, but the intensity of entry increases trade resistance. The overall trade efficiency of China's dairy products imported from the EU is low,and there is a lot of potential to be tapped and there is a lot of room for expansion. China should grasp the development trend of the characteristics of the EU's dairy trade network, manage its trading partners differently,actively carry out trade cooperation, improve the efficiency of dairy imports,and ensure the safety of China's dairy industry.

Key words: complex network model, stochastic frontier gravity model, trade efficiency, trade potential