TEHRAN- The value of trades at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) rose 16 percent in the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

As reported by the IME’s Public Relations and International Affairs Department, 1.977 million tons of commodities worth $519 million were traded at the IME, indicating also six percent rise in terms of weight.

The exchange traded on its metals and minerals trading floor 1.693 million tons of commodities valued at almost $334 million.

Commodities sold on this floor included 1,000,275 tons of cement, 345,240 tons of steel, 81,000 tons of iron ore, 35,500 tons of sponge iron, 12,510 tons of copper, 10,275 tons of aluminum, 1,600 tons of zinc and 21 tons of precious metals concentrate.

Furthermore, the IME saw on both domestic and export pits of its oil and petrochemical trading floor 275,000 tons of commodities worth more than $181 million.

The IME's customers purchased on this floor 86,042 tons of polymeric products, 51,000 tons of vacuum bottom, 51,000 tons of lube cut, 46,980 tons of bitumen, 36,607 tons of chemicals, 3,795 tons of base oil and 1,309 tons of sulfur.

Last but not least was the IME's side market with 8,464 tons of commodities traded on it.

As previously reported, during the past Iranian calendar month (ended on November 21), 8.961 million tons of commodities worth $2.357 billion were traded at Iran Mercantile Exchange, indicating 18 percent rise in the value and 24 percent growth in the weight of trades as compared to its preceding month.

The exchange sold on its metals and minerals trading floor 7.387 million tons of commodities valued at more than $1.42 billion.

Items traded on this floor included 5.176 million tons of cement, 1.452 million tons of steel, 521,000 tons of iron ore, 172,000 tons of sponge iron (DRI), 31,445 tons of aluminum, 30,535 of zinc, 29,100 tons of copper, 560 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 200 tons of metallurgical coke, 81 tons of precious metals concentrate and 63 kg of gold bars.

Furthermore, the exchange saw trade of more than 1.53 million tons of commodities worth almost $907 million on its oil and petrochemical trading floor.

The IME's customers purchased on this floor 447,000 tons of vacuum bottom, 441,510 tons of bitumen, 324,851 tons of polymeric products, 150,081 tons of chemicals, 135,000 tons of lube cut, 15,682 tons of oil, 13,850 tons of sulfur, 546 tons of insulation and 50 tons of argon.

It's worth noting that the IME's agricultural trading floor played host to trading one ton of saffron in this month.

Last was the IME's side market on which the exchange traded 42,795 tons of non-exchange-listed commodities.

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