BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 21. A certain part of exchanges in Iran's trade with China has been carried out in 'yuan' - Chinese currency, since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022), Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ehsan Khandouzi said, Trend reports citing IRNA.
He made the remark at a press conference in Tehran on February 21, 2023.
The minister emphasized that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is conducting discussions in this direction with the Chinese side. If the agreement is reached, instead of US dollars and euro, yuan will be used as much as possible in trade between Iran and China.
In general, Iran's non-oil trade turnover with China amounted to 29.2 million tons worth $25.3 billion, during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through January 20, 2023). China ranks first in Iran's non-oil trade for 10 months.
Within 10 months, Iran exported non-oil products worth $12.8 billion to China, which is an increase of 10 percent compared to the same period last Iranian year. Also, Iran imported goods worth about $12.7 billion from China in 10 months. This is an increase of 33 percent compared to the same period last Iranian year.
Iran remains one of major oil exporters to China. The Islamic Republic saw an increase in exports in the last two months of 2022, according to companies that track the flows, on higher shipments to China and Venezuela.
Iran does not publish official statistics about its oil sales, but analysts claim Tehran has increased oil exports to more than 1.2 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, China's crude oil imports fell for the second year in a row in 2022 despite a burst of purchases in the fourth quarter, as the country's strict COVID-19 control measures hobbled the economy and fuel demand. According to the Chinese General Administration of Customs, China's crude oil imports fell by 0.9% to 508.28 Mt (10.17 mb/d) in 2022 (from 513 Mt in 2021).
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