TEHRAN - China’s Customs Office put the trade exchanges between Iran and China in the first five months of the current year (January to May 2024) at about $6.0 billion.

It said the trade exchanges between the two countries in the first five months of the current year reached $5.9 billion, showing a nine percent decline compared to last year’s corresponding period.

The trade exchanges between Iran and China from January to May 2023 had been $6.5 billion, the report added.

China imported $1.8 billion of products from Iran in the first five months of 2024, showing a five percent decline compared to last year’s corresponding period, it stated, Mehr news agency reported.

China had imported $1.9 billion of products from Iran between January and May 2023.

Also, China exported $4.1 billion of products to Iran from January to May 2024, showing a 10 percent down compared to last year’s corresponding period.

China had exported $4.6 billion of products to Iran from January to May 2023.

China imported $245 million of products from Iran in May 2024 while exporting $594 million of products to Iran in this period, the report went on to say.

Earlier, China Customs announced that the trade exchanges between Iran and China stood at more than $4.0 billion from January to March 2024.

According to the data released by China Customs, trade between Iran and China in the first three months of 2024 amounted to $4.2 billion, marking a one percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The exchanges between Iran and China in the first quarter of 2023 were announced to be $3.9 billion.

China exported $2.7 billion worth of products to Iran and imported over $1.2 billion from Iran from January to March 2024, representing a three percent decrease and a 10 percent year-over-year increase, respectively.

Analysts believe that China's imports from Iran may be even higher than $829 million, as the purchase of Iranian oil by Chinese refiners is not included in the official statistics of the country's imports from Iran.

According to China's Customs data, the value of trade between Iran and China in 2023 exceeded $14.6 billion, registering a 6.2 percent decline compared to 2022.

Based on the mentioned data, the two countries exchanged $14.650 billion worth of products in 2023, while the value of trade between the two countries stood at $15.5 billion in 2022.

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