Comparative Advantages and Analysis of International Market Structure of Medicinal Plants: Case Study of Anise, Badin, Fennel and Coriander

Due to importance of medicinal plants in Iran’s non-petroleum export, present study aims to determine comparative advantages and global export market structure of selected export commodities during 2000-2001 periods. To determine comparative advantages of exporting countries in international market, two indices of Revealed Comparative Advantages and Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage were applied. In order to determine global export market structure of medicinal plants, Herfindahl and Concentration ratio indices was used. Results revealed that among selected medicinal plants export countries of Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, India, Egypt, Bulgaria, Morocco, Macedonia and Turkey had relatively higher comparative advantage .The results showed that comparative advantage is always fluctuating in studied time period. The results revealed that international market structure of medicinal plants composed of three types of monopolistic, open oligopoly and close oligopoly. The result of study showed that Iran’s export price was lower in contrast to countries where their share of global exports was small. For improvement of comparative advantage and increase the export price of Iranian plants diversification of export markets is recommended.