Clustering the target markets of Iranian medicinal plants export

Medicinal plants have been great importance throughout human life. Because the variety of medicinal plants in Iran is huge, exporting these types of plants can be a great deal for Iran. In this study, according to data from 1997 to 2020 in FAO, four types of herbs, fennel, anise, badian, and coriander were used to cluster the target export markets (the top 20 countries). These 20 countries were selected based on market share indicators, market size, market growth, export continuity, market structure, competitive advantage and export price, then clustered using k-means clustering technique and SPSS software. The results showed that Iran's export target markets should be divided into four clusters based on export price priority. Pakistan, UAE and Ukraine in one cluster (first cluster), Peru, India, China, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Turkey, Qatar and Kuwait in one cluster (second cluster), Japan and Korea in third cluster and Singapore, UK, Colombia, Malaysia, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Russia are in the fourth cluster. Therefore, it is suggested to increase exports to the countries in the first cluster. On the other hand, it is possible to export more to countries around Iran at a lower price. Because the countries of the fourth cluster are new markets for Iranian medicinal plants, more currency can be earned by exporting to these countries. It is also suggested that the government pay more attention to the export of medicinal plants that have a high global demand.