Investigating the Conformity of Virtual Water Export Pattern with Iran's Competitive Advantages

Given the water scarcity in various countries of the world, including Iran, the issue of virtual water and its trade has particular importance in future water planning and policy making. In this research will be estimated advantages for export, virtual water quantity and virtual water value per cubic meter for the main export products (pistachio, dates, saffron, kiwi and apples) and relationship between virtual water exports and export advantages during the years 1992-2016. The results showed, on average, the export of virtual water and its value for pistachio are 4.9 billion cubic meters per year and 0.149 dollars per cubic meter respectively and symmetric revealed comparative advantage index during the same period for pistachio showed the existence of an export advantage. However, the correlation coefficient shows a significant and negative correlation between the value of virtual water exports and the export advantage of this product, which indicates that the pattern of virtual water exports is incompatible with the competitive advantage of pistachios. Negative effect on the product of saffron, similar to pistachio shows the mismatch between trade patterns and virtual water value. In date product, the lack of a significant relationship between the value of each cubic meter of virtual export water and the export advantage also confirms this mismatch. While the most effective condition was for the export of kiwifruit and apples. Therefore, the alignment of business policies and water conservation policies in the current state of the country and the crisis of water resources will be more urgent.