Investigating the Effect of Iran’s Membership in Trade Agreements on Iranian Pistachio Exports

Trade agreements are generally effective in reducing barriers to trade by reducing trade costs and increasing the contracts safety. Iran is in two trade agreements of the world, Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) and Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Despite the general belief that the presence in trade agreements generally has a positive effect on the trading flow of the countries, there is no guarantee about this effect in all countries and goods. Therefore, considering the importance of pistachio exports to Iran, this study aims to answer the question whether Iran’s presence in trade agreements has increased exports of Iranian pistachio? To achieve the purpose, the gravity model and pistachios export data have been used during the period 2001 to 2016. Based on the results, Iran’s membership in the trade agreements has had a positive and statistically significant impact (0.380) on Iranian pistachio exports. Therefore, it is suggested that pistachio exports companies benefit from the opportunities provided by participating in these trade agreements to adopt appropriate marketing policies and strategies to increase Iran’s pistachio exports to its trading partners.