In the 12 months up until the end of March 2024, Iran's oil exports reached $35.8 billion, Iran's head of Customs Mohammad Rezvanifar said today, as reported by the Iranian Labour News Agency. 

Even though the US sanctioned Iran again in 2018, Chinese-Iranian trade, specifically Chinese purchases of Iranian oil have aided Iran in keeping a positive trade balance. 
 
Rezvanifar said that without oil exports, Iran would have registered a $16.8 billion trade deficit.
 
Iran's total trade witnessed a 2.6% year-on-year increase, hitting a value of $153 billion, of which $86.8 billion was Iranian exports, he added. 

$2.879 billion Iran-China trade value in Jan-Feb, 37% higher than 2023

According to a report by IRNA on March 28, trade exchanges between Iran and China witnessed a 37 percent increase in the first two months of 2024 compared to a similar period from last year.

IRNA cited Chinese customs data revealing that the value of trade between both countries in January and February this year amounted to $2.879 billion. Last year, the trade value in the same months amounted to $2.098 billion.

It added that in comparison to last year's 1.41 billion dollars worth of goods exported to Iran from China in the first two months of the year, this year's 2.05 billion indicates a 45 percent increase in exports from China to Iran within the same months. 

Iranian exports to China have also witnessed a 20% increase, as $829 million of goods were exported compared to last year's $688 million.

According to analysts, the value of China's imports from Iran is predicted to be much higher, as the figures related to the purchase of Iranian oil by Chinese refineries are not included in the official statistics of China's imports from Iran.