The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is an inter-governmental organization
comprising Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and several
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent states (CIS) including Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The agricultural sector has
remained a major contributor to the national economies of the ECO member
countries. According to FAO estimates, in 2002 agriculture generated 25.2 percent of
GDP and employed 42 percent of the economically-active population in the ECO
region. Livestock production in the ECO countries is predominately based on
traditional systems. The amount of livestock products in ECO was about
6,000,000 metric tons (Mt) during the study period. Most of this production belonged
to Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, but most red meat, skins and honey is produced by CIS
countries. This paper looks at the performance of livestock production and export of
Iran and CIS countries within the ECO region and examines the comparative advantage
indices for these countries. The data from 1992-2002 is supplied by the FAO
(2004). Changes in Iran's production and export structure were compared with CIS
producers. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to identify the comparative advantage
of Iranian livestock production and export in comparison with CIS countries; (2) to
discuss the reasons for changes in comparative advantage over time. The research
results show that past trade and production policies, and the economic behavior of
producers and exporters, have been such that they could manage neither appropriate
and timely responses to world demand, nor proper adaptation to market niches