* China has experienced an economic growth which has been second to none in recent years. In 2008, China was named the world’s third biggest economy after the United States and Japan. It jumped to the second place and ranked the second after the United States in 2010. The World Bank has reported that China’s Gross Domestic Product exceeded $5,900 billion in 2010. The average annual growth rate of China during the past 30 years was over 10 percent.

 ·         China’s exports growth has surpassed by over 20 percent annually during the past decade and reached 30 percent in some years. In 2010, China was named the world’s biggest exporter, superior to Germany, the United States, and Japan.

* In 2010, the United States was the main importer of Chinese products, accounting for 18.4 percent of China’s total exports. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Singapore, India, and France were China’s next biggest trading partners. Meanwhile, Japan was the main exporter to Japan, accounting for 13 percent of China’s total imports. South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia ranked the 2^nd to the 10th.

 * China has been turned into one of the most important trading partners of Iran during the past decade. Trade between Iran and China has noticeably increased during the past 10 years. Iran exported $4575 million worth of non-oil products to China and imported $7350 million worth of goods in 2010.

 * In the early years of the recent decade, China was the sixth largest destination for Iranian non-oil goods, accounting for 4.3 percent of Iran’s non-oil exports. China’s stance among Iran’s main export destinations was improved in next years, so that it was named the top destination for Iranian-made goods, with a share of 17.4 percent in 2010.

 * In 2010, China was Iran’s second exporter, next to the United Arab Emirates, accounting for 9 percent of Iran’s total imports.

 * Iran has a potential to export as much as $14195 million worth of goods to China. The potential has been estimated based on 2545 items of goods. Among the items, 349 goods exist which can earn over one million dollars each in exports to China (totally 4779 million dollars), and 62 items of goods exist each of them can earn over 10 million dollars in exports to China (totally 3894 million dollars).

 * Iran had the potential for importing as much as 25922 million dollars worth of goods from China in 2010. Iran imported 5702 million dollars worth of goods from China in 2010. Considering the high volume of re-exports from the United Arab Emirates into Iran, it seems that imports from China are much higher than that of the United Arab Emirates.

 * A comparison of the most important imported goods into Iran from China with the goods with the highest potential for imports shows that most of the goods are included in the list of imported goods from China. Tractors, winnowing machinery, piston engines, pipes for wall building, and automated machinery for data processing are among the cases.

 Suggestions

* studies show that Iran had the capacity to export as much as $14195 million worth of goods to China in 2010, while the exports amounted to just $4575 million in that year. Considering the expansion of bilateral trade between the two countries as a result of international sanctions against Iran, the country should plan to take advantage of this opportunity.

  * The focus of Iran on exporting a limited number of goods (methanol %15.5, iron ore %12.4, polyethylene film grade %11.6, styrene %8.1, paraxylene %7.8, ethylene glycol %6.5, liquefied propane %6.1, chrome ore %3.9, polyethylene grade %2.8, liquefied butane %2.5) shows the country weakness in benefiting from its export potentialities. These goods account for 76 percent of exports to China, Iran has the potential to increase the value of exports to China.

 ·         Iran has the potential to expand exports of products, such as unrefined oil, polyethylene, tar and bitumen, copper cathode, Polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene, unrefined aluminum, vehicles equipped with piston engines, jewelry, solutions and thinners, wheat, benzene, ammonium, unalloyed zinc, bread, unsaturated hydrocarbons, and biscuits. Iran had not exported these goods to China so far.

  * Iran has exported methanol, unpressured iron ore, and paraxylene in excess of its capacity to China. Iran should plan for maintaining its share in exporting such products.