Food Safety Concerns and other Factors Affecting Iran's Pistachio Exports to EU, Australia, and Japan

In this paper, the impact of food safety concerns on Iran’s pistachio export demand was investigated. Panel data and panel cointegration analyses were used to estimate the export demand function of Iran’s pistachio nuts to the European Union (EU), Japan, and Australia for the period of 1997 to 2006 so that the relationship between factors affecting Iran’s pistachio exports can be examined. The results show the existence of long-run relationships among the variables that have a significant impact on Iran’s pistachio exports. The empirical results indicate that food safety shocks had a statistically significant negative impact on the import demand of those countries.