Financial Tribune � Trade between Iran and European Union member states during the first four months of 2019 stood at �1.61 billion to register a 76.46% plunge compared with last year�s corresponding period.

Iran�s trade with Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria increased by 130.35%, 70.3% and 24.11% respectively. These were the only EU members to experience an increase in commercial exchanges with Iran over the period, as those with the remaining 25 EU member states declined.

Trade with Greece (�14.54 million), Luxembourg (�70,927), Spain (�68.24 million), France (�122.2 million) and Italy (�264.37 million) saw the sharpest declines of 97.82%, 96.9%, 93.13%, 87.85% and 84.58% respectively.

Eurostat (European Statistical Office) is a directorate of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to EU institutions and promote the harmonization of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession.

Organizations in different countries that cooperate with Eurostat are summarized under the concept of the European Statistical System.