Trade lanes

What Iran buys, and from whom.

Iran imported USD 15bn of manufactured and processed goods in 2024, down 51 per cent on 2022. These are its twenty largest source countries. 3 of them ship enough, across enough product lines, to have a lane page of their own.

Trade year 2024, compared with 2022.

By source

The twenty countries Iran imports most from.

A lane page is written where the source ships USD 1bn or more a year across at least 50 product lines worth USD 1m each. For what Iran is best placed to make itself, see Made here: Iran.

  1. 1

    China

    Share of Iran's imports54 per cent
    Changedown 27 per cent on 2022
    USD 8.2bnin 2024
  2. 2

    Turkey

    Share of Iran's imports16 per cent
    Changedown 20 per cent on 2022
    USD 2.3bnin 2024
  3. 3

    Germany

    Share of Iran's imports8 per cent
    Changeup 2 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.2bnin 2024
  4. 4

    Italy

    Share of Iran's imports4 per cent
    Changedown 14 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 539min 2024
  5. 5

    Netherlands

    Share of Iran's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 27 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 370min 2024
  6. 6

    France

    Share of Iran's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 6 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 258min 2024
  7. 7

    Switzerland

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 21 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 215min 2024
  8. 8

    Belgium

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 26 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 196min 2024
  9. 9

    Spain

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 36 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 183min 2024
  10. 10

    India

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 63 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 183min 2024
  11. 11

    South Korea

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 57 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 156min 2024
  12. 12

    Bulgaria

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 3 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 138min 2024
  13. 13

    Austria

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 46 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 118min 2024
  14. 14

    Indonesia

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 17 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 116min 2024
  15. 15

    Thailand

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 54 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 111min 2024
  16. 16

    Uzbekistan

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 205 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 102min 2024
  17. 17

    Malaysia

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 50 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 92min 2024
  18. 18

    United States

    Share of Iran's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 7 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 89min 2024
  19. 19

    United Kingdom

    Share of Iran's importsunder 1 per cent
    Changedown 35 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 62min 2024
  20. 20

    Japan

    Share of Iran's importsunder 1 per cent
    Changedown 41 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 56min 2024
What this record says

What crossed the border, what it was worth, and what it weighed.

Every figure on this page is from CEPII's BACI file, which reconciles what each pair of countries reports to the UN about the same shipment. Trade year 2024, compared with 2022. A line is one six-digit customs heading (HS 2022). Values are in US dollars at the border; growth is in current dollars, so part of any change is price, not volume.

Unit value. Unit values are customs values per tonne, declared at the border, not product prices. It is the value of a line divided by its declared weight, so it mixes grades, models and qualities under one heading. It is shown only where the weight is recorded, at least three source countries of USD 100k or more ship the line to Iran with a weight, and the figure sits within a factor of five of the middle of those sources. Outside that band it is treated as a recording problem and left out.

Share is China's part of everything Iran imported in that line, from every source. Sources counts the countries that shipped any of it.

Scope. Manufactured and processed goods, customs chapters 16 to 96, without ores, fuels, precious metals, scrap, raw farm output and one-off capital and defence purchases: the same rule as the Made here pages.

What it does not say

A record of trade, not a shopping list.

What this record does not say: what sells at retail, what margin a trade leaves, how crowded the marketplaces are, or how much of a flow is re-exported through entrepots such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

A large line is not proof of an opening, and a lower unit value from another country is not proof the goods are the same. Tariffs, standards, freight, payment terms, lead times and the plain fact that a supplier is good at it are all invisible here. Nothing on this page is a forecast, a recommendation or a promise. No supplier company is named, because the record holds none.

Source: CEPII BACI, HS22, version 202601. Edition of 2026-11-03.