Investigating and determining the export priorities of Iran's tomato paste product and the factors affecting it

International trade theories emphasize the importance of countries' specialization to take advantage of the global trade network and its benefits. Export development of Iran's agricultural sector can play an important role in providing food security and improving the level of resilience in addition to earning foreign currency. One of the approaches to examining export development is to examine Iran's export capacities from the perspective of relative advantage and export efficiency and specialization. In this study, we will examine the market structure, the ranking of target markets, the status of price and quality competition, the relative and commercial advantage, the efficiency of export target markets using the stochastic frontier analysis model, the clustering export markets, the influencing factors on Iran's tomato paste export in the framework of the gravity model, and export efficiency of tomato paste using the fractional probit panel model during 2001-2020. It should be noted that the data of 29 trading partners has been analyzed, which includes more than 99% of the export of this product. The results showed that Iran's tomato paste export price is higher than the average global price due to the high quality of this product. Examining the status of the specialization pattern shows that the degree of specialization of Iran's tomato paste export is increasing. Along with the increase of Iran's share in the world markets, the increase in export efficiency, the existence of relative advantage during the review period and quality competition, it is suggested that the markets (clusters 3 and 4) have the most efficiency and advantage be prioritized. Also it can be suggested that countries with lower export efficiency should compensate for the gap between export capacity and the actual value of exports by conducting detailed case studies to know the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats ahead. Also, the cost of penetrating new markets should be spent to...