Determination of Medical Plant Export Target Markets in Iran

Attention to medical plants due to high potential of this product in Iran and developing export of this product is very important in order to export of non-oil products. The purpose of this study is identification of the best export target markets for this product by using numerical taxonomy method. The used data are related to 2011. In this study has been used seven indicators of import towards the world, the per capita income, economic growth, distance of countries, import price, trade barriers and the number of countries that export goods for desired country. The results of this study show that, present destinations of this product have not been choice correctly according to the export target market priorities. According to identified priorities, Hong Kong is the first target market for exporting medical plants and then countries of USA, China, India, Japan, Germany, South Korea, France, Taiwan and Spain will be the next priority. Also the results show that current export market of medical plants has significant difference with potential markets. So, use of export guiding policies toward potential target market has suggested.