TEHRAN –Iran’s trade with its top trading partner China stood at $11.19 billion in the first nine months of 2020, registering a 38.5 percent decline compared to the same period in 2019.

Iran-China trade in the January-September period of 2019 exceeded $18.17 billion, data released by the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China showed.

According to the data, both China's exports to and imports from Iran have decreased in the first nine months of 2020, but the decline in Chinese imports from Iran has been much greater than China's exports to Iran.

Iran and China have had a long history of cultural, political, and economic exchanges along the Silk Road since at least 200 BC, and possibly earlier. To this day, China and Iran have developed a friendly economic and strategic partnership.

However, in the current year, the trade between the two countries experienced a significant decline mainly due to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and also the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

Approximately 80 percent of China's total imports from Iran are oil and the rest are mineral and chemical products.

China Customs had previously announced that the trade between Iran and China reached $5.26 billion in the first four months of 2020, 40 percent less than the same period last year.

As reported, the two countries’ trade turnover stood at $8.76 billion in the last year’s four-month period.

Iranian imports from the Asian country reached $2.92 billion in the January-April period, indicating a three percent rise compared to the same time span in 2019.

The commercial exchange between the two countries stood at $3.94 billion during the first three months of 2020 to register a 30.4 percent decline compared with the corresponding period of 2019.

Iran’s exports to China totaled $1.81 billion in Q1 2020, indicating a 52.7 percent year-on-year decrease.

EF/MA