TEHRAN- The value and weight of trades at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) has increased 26 percent and 62 percent, respectively, in the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

As reported by the IME’s Public Relations Department, the exchange witnessed trade of 689,307 tons of commodities worth more than $306 million in the past week.

IME traded on its mineral and industrial trading floor 183,231 tons of various types of commodities valued at more than $102 million.

Commodities traded on this floor included 180,395 tons of steel, 1,600 tons of copper, 1,000 tons of aluminum, 120 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 6 tons of precious metals concentrate, 10 tons of lead and 100 tons of cast iron.

The next trading floor of the IME was the oil and petrochemical, which traded on its domestic and export rings 502,388 tons of commodities with a total trading value of more than $204 million.

On this floor, customers purchased 204,200 tons of vacuum bottom, 143, 964 tons of bitumen, 65,899 tons of polymeric products, 32,126 tons of chemicals, 55,500 tons of lube cut, 1,560 tons of base oil and 325 tons of sulfur.

It's also worth noting that 3,688 tons of commodities changed hands on the IME's side market.

As previously reported, over 2,893 tons of commodities worth nearly $1.5 billion have been traded at IME during the past Iranian calendar month of Dey (December 21, 2020-January 19, 2021).

The exchange hosted trading of 1,176,000 tons of commodities with a trading value of more than $740 million on its mineral and industrial trading floor.

On this floor the IME sold 1,093,000 tons of steel, 5,160 tons of copper, 30 tons of precious metals concentrate, 480 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 15,955 tons of aluminum, 800 tons of coke, 20,500 tons of zinc dust, 40,000 tons of iron ore concentrate, 300 tons of cast iron and 54 kg of gold bars.

On its oil and petrochemical trading floor, the IME traded more than 1,707,000 tons of commodities worth nearly $749 million, which included 602,855 tons of various types of bitumen, 257,511 tons of polymeric products, 124,965 tons of chemicals, 6,300 tons of slop wax and 503,760 tons of vacuum bottom. Moreover, the exchange sold on this floor 11,825 tons of base oil, 69,725 tons of sulfur, 200 tons of argon and 129,000 tons of lube cut.

The next trading floor of the IME was the agricultural with 10,500 kg of saffron sold on it.

Last but not least, the IME's side market saw trade of 9,510 tons of various types of commodities within the same month.

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).

In last April, IME Managing Director Hamed Soltani-Nejad unveiled the market's new outlook plan, which depicts IME's development roadmap until the Iranian calendar year of 1404 (March 20205-March 2026). Materializing the slogan of this Iranian year, which is “Surge in Production” is seriously considered in the mentioned plan and it is, in fact, the strategic approach of the outlook plan.

MA/MA