Yutong, a leading bus manufacturer in central China's Henan Province, has signed a deal with Iran's Saipa Diesel on exporting 1,000 buses to Iran, the company announced here Tuesday.

The transaction volume will reach 30 million US dollars, the source said, adding that the deal includes exports of 500 complete buses and 500 CKD (completely knocked down) ones.

Production of these buses will start in early November and delivery of the complete buses will be completed before March next year. While the CKD buses would be delivered before May 2006, said the company.

The Zhengzhou-based bus company has so far inked three deals with foreign countries this year, including two with Cuba, which involved exports of over 2,000 buses with transaction volume topping 110 million US dollars.

The company said the current deal constitutes a start of cooperation between Yutong and Saipa, adding that Saipa plans to import 5,000 buses from Yutong in the coming three years.

Yutong holds 22 percent of China's bus market share. In 2004, it sold 18,000 buses and chalked up 7.4 billion yuan (892 million US dollars) in bus sales.