Iran’s commercial exchanges with top trading partner, China, stood at $14.91 billion in 2020 to register a 35.3% decline compared with the year before, data provided by the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China shows.
Accordingly, Iran’s exports to China totaled $6.4 billion, indicating a 52.4% year-on-year decrease. In return, China exported $8.51 billion worth of commodities to Iran in 2020, indicating an 11.3% decline compared with the same period of last year.
Trade between the two countries stood at $1.39 billion in December 2020, down from $1.7 billion in December 2019.
Iran’s exports to China amounted to $733.3 million during the month, while imports from China hit $657.2 million.
Bilateral trade with China in 2019 stood at $23.02 billion to register a decline of 34.3% compared to 2018. It exported $13.43 billion worth of commodities to China, 36.3% less compared to the year before.
In return, China exported $9.59 billion worth of goods to Iran, down 31.2% YOY.
The decline in Iran-China trade is mainly due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, but the two sides are taking measures to boost their trade turnover back to its pre-coronavirus levels.
Decline in Iran’s petroleum exports to China and the drop in oil prices are other key factors contributing to the decline in their bilateral trade.