Consequences of JoiningWTO in Iranian Food Industry

Globalization and sustainable development are of most important economic issues of any country that will not be successfully handled without adequate foreign exchange supply and improvement of domestic production (especially in advantageous industries). Food industries are one of significant advantageous industries of Iran and enjoy many production advantageous including plenty of economical raw materials, excess and trained human resources, etc. the main question of the current research investigates the positive and negative consequences of Iran’s joining to WTO on domestic food industries (Azarbayjan Sharghi as the sample). All of active companies in food production and export in the province of Azarbayjan Sharghi with 50 or more employees have been chosen as the statistical sample. Using questionnaires, the information is gathered from the highest person in charge for marketing, financial, administrative and supervisory functions. The results suggest that the Iran’s join to WTO will lead to bankruptcy of traditional and small food producers in short and medium time due to competitive incompetencies in sales price, quality, etc. However, regarding potentials of the country (Azarbayjan Sharghi, in specific) in food industries, if mechanized production systems are employed and word-level quality, packaging and standards be considered, the domestic industry can compete internationally.