On November 20, 2009, Xinhua reported that China is Iran’s largest trading partner. In 2008, the direct bilateral trade amounted to 27.6 billion U.S. dollars. The trade volume from January to September this year has already reached 15.4 billion U.S. dollars including 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in exports and 10.0 billion U.S. dollars in imports.
In November 2008, China and Iran signed an “Understanding Memorandum on Sino-Iranian Investment.” From January to September this year, Iran has invested $67.0 million in China; China has invested $159 million in Iran. Iran is China’s third largest crude oil importer. In 2008, china imported 21.3 million tons of crude oil from Iran, accounting for 12% of China’s imported crude oil.
Source: Xinhua, November 20, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-11/20/content_12512183.htm