TEHRAN — The annual trade between Iran and China will hit a new record of $40 billion in 2011, the Chinese ambassador to Tehran has predicted.

Speaking at a seminar on Iran-China trade on Monday, Yu Hongyang announced that bilateral trade between Iran and China amounted to $29.4b in 2010, of which $11.1b was China’s export to Iran and $18.3b was Iran’s export to China.

The two countries’ trade exchanges witnessed a 55% growth in the first four months of 2011 in comparison to the corresponding time last year, reaching $13.3 billion, added the diplomat.

Pointing to the growth of China’s direct investment (FDI) in Iran, he declared that China invested $675 million in Iran in 2010. The ambassador added in the first four months of the current year investment reached 178 million dollars, which shows around 48% growth against the same period in 2010.

Iran is the third largest supplier of oil to China.

Hongyang went on say that Iran’s exports of row iron, steel parts, copper, pistachio, saffron and other non-oil products to China has increased remarkably in the recent years.

--- Iran-China trade increased 150 times in 2 decades

The value of Iran-China trade has increased by 150 times over the past two decades, reaching from 200 million dollars to 30 billion dollars, announced Hossein Qaheri, director of the Sino-Iran Economic Cooperation Committee.

Accordingly, Iran’s non-oil exports to China have swelled 27 folds over the past two decades, increasing from 170 million dollars to 4.6 billion dollars.

China is now the largest importer of Iranian-made goods and the second largest exporter to Iran, Qaheri added.