TEHRAN- Over 8.376 million tons of commodities worth $2.433 billion were traded at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) in the past Iranian calendar month (ended on December 21).

As reported by the IME Public Relations and International Affairs Department, trades in the oil and petrochemical trading floor of the IME experienced growth of five percent, and seven percent, in value and weight, respectively, in the past month as compared to its preceding month.

The exchange sold on both domestic and export pits of its oil and petrochemical trading floor more than 1.46 million tons of commodities worth over $940 million.

On this floor the exchange traded 450,000 tons of vacuum bottom, 420,000 tons of bitumen, 396,000 tons of polymeric products, 191,000 tons of lube cut, 133,000 tons of chemicals, 26,000 tons of sulfur, 20,000 tons of oil, 3,800 tons of slops wax, 550 tons of argon and 48 tons of insulation.

Next was the metals and minerals trading floor with trades of 6.701 million tons of commodities valued at nearly $1.476 billion.

Commodities changing hand on this floor included 4.643 million tons of cement, 1.511 million tons of steel, 241,000 tons of iron ore, 201,000 tons of sponge iron, 41,000 tons of aluminum, 35,000 tons of zinc, 33,000 tons of copper, 12,000 tons of cast iron, 540 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 400 tons of coke, 81 tons of precious metals concentrate and 16 kg of gold bars.

It's worth noting that the IME also played host to trade of 34,095 tons of non-exchange-listed commodities on its side market.

The head of Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) has said that Iran Mercantile Exchange has made the country's commodity market observable and transparent.

Addressing a ceremony to launch “futures” for the copper cathode deals at the IME on December 20, Majid Eshqi said, “Pricing is one of the problems that has always existed in this market and we still have this problem in some products.”

Futures contracts (more colloquially, futures) are financial contracts obligating the buyer to purchase an asset or the seller to sell an asset at a predetermined future date and price.

In a bid for more risk management in the country’s capital market, Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) officially launched futures contract during a ceremony held in December 2018 at the place of Central Securities Depository of Iran (CSDI), which is the sole registrar, central custodian and clearing house for the Iranian stock market.

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).

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.

MA/MA