Azerbaijan, Baku, May 19 / Trend M. Moezzi /
The $7 billion in exports China sent to Iran last year included some items, like garlic and tomato paste, that are easily produced domestically.
Last year (Iran's solar year ended on March 19) China was second only to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in exports to Iran, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reports.
Iranian importers, who have access to much cheaper government-rate currency, bought over a million dollars of tomato paste, $645,000 of fresh garlic and $587,000 in oranges.
A substantial amount of the products Iran buys from China are agricultural, and include peanuts, green peas and beans, but other items range from toothbrushes to pant strings to nails and thumbtacks
According to data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Iranian farmers produced 65,000 tons of garlic in 2009. Iran is also one of the world's major tomato growers.