TEHRAN- The value of trades at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) increased 150 percent during the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

As reported by the IME’s Public Relations and International Affairs Department, 895,813 tons of various types of commodities with a total value of more than $290 million were traded at the exchange, showing also 122 percent growth in the weight of goods.

The exchange sold 611,807 tons of commodities worth more than $124 million on its metals and minerals trading floor.

Commodities traded on this floor included 59,677 tons of steel, 6,030 tons of copper, 5,450 tons of aluminum, 120 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 30 tons of precious metals concentrate, 540 tons of zinc ingots, 506,960 tons of cement, 30,000 tons of iron ore, 1 kg of gold bars and 3,000 tons of sponge iron (DRI).

Furthermore, the IME saw trade of 282,690 tons of commodities valued at more than $165 million on the domestic and export pits of its oil and petrochemical trading floor.

On this floor, customers purchased 58,150 tons of vacuum bottom, 56,687 tons of bitumen, 74,730 tons of polymeric products, 36,229 tons of chemicals, 47,000 tons of lube cut, 4,981 tons of base oil, 20 tons of argon, 2,000 tons of slops wax, 210 tons of insulation and 2,225 tons of sulfur.

Also, 1,551 tons of commodities changed hands on the IME's side market within the same week.

As previously reported, during the past Iranian calendar month (June 22-July 22), 4.21 million tons of commodities worth $1.56 billion were traded at Iran Mercantile Exchange.

The volume of traded commodities shows an 11-percent growth on a monthly basis.

The exchange played host to trading 2.555 million tons of commodities on its metals and minerals trading floor, valued at more than $830 million.

On this floor, the exchange saw trades of 821,176 tons of steel, 1,252,000 tons of cement, 15,785 tons of copper, 490 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 63 tons of precious metals concentrate, 21,495 tons of aluminum, 280,500 tons of iron ore, 107,785 tons of zinc, 400 tons of coke, 16,000 tons of cast iron, 47,500 tons of sponge iron and 34 kg of gold bars.

Furthermore, there were 1,449,000 tons of commodities sold on both domestic and export pits of the IME's oil and petrochemical trading floor with a total trading value of more than $717 million.

The IME's customers purchased on this floor 349,831 tons of bitumen, 320,321 tons of polymeric products, 125,773 tons of chemicals, 15,908 tons of base oil, 100 tons of slops wax, 492,350 tons of vacuum bottom, 27,025 tons of sulfur, 450 tons of argon, 1,030 tons of insulation and 113,000 tons of lube cut.

It's worth noting that there was 16,605 tons of various types of commodities traded on the IME's side market.

The value of trades at Iran Mercantile Exchange in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20) rose 108 percent compared to the preceding year.

During the past year, about 3.5 quadrillion rials (about $83.5 billion) worth of commodities were traded at the mentioned market.

In the past year, several new records were achieved in terms of the volume and value of transactions in the mentioned market’s various floors including the industrial, petroleum, and petrochemical floors.

IME is one of the four major stock markets of Iran, the other three markets are Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), Iran's over-the-counter (OTC) market known also as Iran Fara Bourse (IFB), and Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX).

MA/MA