Summary
- Share of its imports
- 39.6%
- Value imported
- $8.9billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 1st
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 329
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 197
- Dominated value
- $7.9billion
- Share of total imports
- 34.7%
Trend
Trend in shares
China went from 3.3% to 39.6% of what Iran buys
Share (%)
- China 39.6%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 276 | 3.3% | 9 |
| 1996 | 364 | 3.4% | 10 |
| 1997 | 567 | 3.3% | 12 |
| 1998 | 918 | 5.5% | 5 |
| 1999 | 907 | 6% | 3 |
| 2000 | 844 | 4.9% | 5 |
| 2001 | 999 | 4.8% | 8 |
| 2002 | 1,466 | 5.9% | 7 |
| 2003 | 2,208 | 7.1% | 4 |
| 2004 | 2,177 | 5.4% | 6 |
| 2005 | 2,787 | 6.3% | 4 |
| 2006 | 3,530 | 10% | 2 |
| 2007 | 7,320 | 14.7% | 1 |
| 2008 | 8,162 | 14.2% | 1 |
| 2009 | 7,917 | 17.5% | 1 |
| 2010 | 8,404 | 11.9% | 2 |
| 2011 | 11,041 | 14.2% | 2 |
| 2012 | 11,597 | 16.8% | 2 |
| 2013 | 12,341 | 18.3% | 2 |
| 2014 | 16,209 | 23.5% | 1 |
| 2015 | 13,460 | 24.4% | 1 |
| 2016 | 12,744 | 23% | 1 |
| 2017 | 15,013 | 22.9% | 1 |
| 2018 | 11,590 | 21.7% | 1 |
| 2019 | 11,576 | 23.5% | 1 |
| 2020 | 9,872 | 23.9% | 2 |
| 2021 | 11,585 | 21.6% | 2 |
| 2022 | 13,410 | 23.4% | 2 |
| 2023 | 10,026 | 34% | 1 |
| 2024 | 8,941 | 39.6% | 1 |
Products where China sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto parts | China | 86.7%over 75% | Turkey · 8.8% | $653 million |
| Vehicle bodies and cabs | China | 100%over 75% | France · 0.02% | $618 million |
| Gold | China | 97.7%over 75% | Turkey · 2.2% | $486 million |
| Synthetic filament fabric | China | 92.1%over 75% | Turkey · 5.3% | $305 million |
| Air pumps, compressors and fans | China | 63% | Germany · 15.4% | $218 million |
| Spark-ignition engines | China | 99.3%over 75% | Thailand · 0.41% | $214 million |
| Motorcycles | China | 84%over 75% | Indonesia · 13% | $166 million |
| Sunflower seeds | China | 97.4%over 75% | Turkey · 2.6% | $131 million |
| Electric motors and generators | China | 68.5% | Germany · 10.4% | $131 million |
| Liquid pumps | China | 67.6% | Turkey · 15.2% | $126 million |
| New tires | China | 92.9%over 75% | Turkey · 2.7% | $108 million |
| Cables and wire | China | 83.3%over 75% | Turkey · 7.6% | $101 million |
| Cars | China | 78.7%over 75% | Turkey · 8.8% | $99 million |
| Coated flat steel | China | 89.1%over 75% | Turkey · 8.7% | $98 million |
| Seats and chairs | China | 95%over 75% | Turkey · 3.4% | $94 million |
| Motorcycle and bicycle parts | China | 89.3%over 75% | Indonesia · 6.9% | $90 million |
| Ball and roller bearings | China | 77%over 75% | Turkey · 10.5% | $87 million |
| Valves and taps | China | 51.7% | Turkey · 15.1% | $87 million |
| Engine parts | China | 64.2% | Turkey · 22.6% | $80 million |
| 3D printers | China | 84.8%over 75% | Turkey · 8.9% | $78 million |
| Lamps and light fittings | China | 97.5%over 75% | Turkey · 0.89% | $77 million |
| Diodes, transistors and solar cells | China | 97%over 75% | Thailand · 1.4% | $76 million |
| Water heaters and industrial dryers | China | 59.5% | Italy · 15.8% | $74 million |
| Stainless steel sheet | China | 97.5%over 75% | Turkey · 1.1% | $70 million |
| Other knitted fabric | China | 90.4%over 75% | Turkey · 9.2% | $67 million |
| Screws, bolts and nuts | China | 83.7%over 75% | Turkey · 6.7% | $65 million |
| Cold-rolled flat steel | China | 99.7%over 75% | Turkey · 0.32% | $64 million |
| Rayon fabric | China | 97.5%over 75% | Turkey · 1.9% | $64 million |
| Transformers and power supplies | China | 58.2% | Turkey · 23.1% | $60 million |
| Seaweed, sugar beet and sugar cane | China | 99.7%over 75% | Uzbekistan · 0.19% | $58 million |
and 299 more
A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.
Are there other suppliers in the world?
- China sells 12.1% of what the world exports of auto parts; next come Germany (14.5%), Mexico (9.5%) and United States (9%). The rest of the world exported 597.6 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 18.7% of what the world exports of vehicle bodies and cabs; next come Sweden (11%), Germany (9.2%) and France (9%). The rest of the world exported 14.1 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 2.4% of what the world exports of gold; next come Switzerland (19.2%), United Arab Emirates (10.6%) and Hong Kong (6.4%). The rest of the world exported 1,113.4 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 61.9% of what the world exports of synthetic filament fabric; next come Taiwan (4.8%), South Korea (4.5%) and India (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 34.3 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 28.4% of what the world exports of air pumps, compressors and fans; next come Germany (11%), United States (8.2%) and Japan (5.7%). The rest of the world exported 306.3 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 6.9% of what the world exports of spark-ignition engines; next come United States (15.8%), Germany (11.5%) and Mexico (8.8%). The rest of the world exported 233.6 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 28.6% of what the world exports of motorcycles; next come Japan (10.4%), Germany (8.3%) and Thailand (8.3%). The rest of the world exported 159.7 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 17.6% of what the world exports of sunflower seeds; next come Romania (13.6%), Bulgaria (11.2%) and France (11.2%). The rest of the world exported 29.9 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 25% of what the world exports of electric motors and generators; next come Germany (11%), United States (7%) and Mexico (6.6%). The rest of the world exported 423.3 times what Iran buys from China.
- China sells 18.6% of what the world exports of liquid pumps; next come Germany (14.7%), United States (11.5%) and Italy (6.7%). The rest of the world exported 498.2 times what Iran buys from China.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from China
Iran is China’s 58th-largest customer, with 0.25% of its exports.
Links
Sources and method
Sources and licenses
- CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
- Natural Earth · Public domain
Methodology
The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.
Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.
The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.
Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.
The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.
Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.