Financial Tribune - Iran�s commercial exchanges with its top trading partner China stood at $3.94 billion during the first three months of 2020 to register a 30.4% decline compared with the corresponding period of 2019.

As data provided by the General Administration of Customs of the People�s Republic of China show, Iran�s exports to China totaled $1.81 billion, indicating a 52.7% year-on-year decrease.

In return, China exported $2.13 billion worth of commodities to Iran during the period under review, up by 15.9% YOY.

Bilateral trade in March stood at $1.4 billion. Iran�s exports to China accounted for $667.19 million of the figure while imports stood at $736.69 million.

Iran-China's 2019 trade stood at $23.02 billion to register a decline of 34.3% compared to 2018.

Iran exported $13.43 billion worth of commodities to China last year, 36.3% less year-on-year.

In return, China exported $9.59 billion worth of goods to Iran, down 31.2% YOY.

According to the American Enterprise Institute, China invested $26.92 billion in Iran from 2005 to 2019.

Of the total investment volume, 1.53 billion were made in chemical industries, $11.1 billion in energy, $4.96 billion in metals, $160 million in real estate, $6.92 billion in transport and $2.25 billion in utilities.

The value of China�s overseas investment and construction combined since 2005 exceeds $2 trillion.

In 2019, the average size of Chinese construction deals overseas shrank and investment fell outright. Chinese greenfield investment and the Belt and Road Initiative projects help boost the economy, provided they don�t increase dependency.