Examination of Non-Tariff Measures on Iran Main Agricultural Imports

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the non-tariff measures of two strategic imported products, Wheat and Maize, in addition to determining their impact on the trade in Iran during a 11-year period from 2001-2012. The explanatory variables instigated in this research were gross domestic product (GDP) of Iran and exporter's countries to Iran, GDP per capita as income per capita of Iran and exporter's countries, distance between Iran and exporter's countries, the non-tariff measure as barriers of trade and the total production of Wheat and Maize in Iran. The results of the fixed effect estimation (Panel data) showed that one percent increase in non-tariff measures have reduced the level of Maize and Wheat imports by 0.42% and 0.67% respectively. GDP per capita in exporter's countries has decreased the level of Maize and Wheat imports by -4.83 and -5.02 respectively, GDP per capita of Iran has increased the value of import by  3.98% in Maize and 9.94% in Wheat. The Wheat production was significant and negative, thus, one percent increase in Wheat production leads to 10.07% reduction in its import and other factors did not show significant effect.