TEHRAN- The worth of trades at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) increased 109 percent during the past Iranian calendar week (ended on Friday).

As reported by the IME’s Public Relations and International Affairs Department, 745,073 tons of commodities worth $443 million were traded at the exchange in the past week, also showing 102 percent growth.

The exchange sold on its mineral and industrial trading floor, 334,819 tons of various commodities valued at almost $219 million.

Commodities traded on this floor included 329,239 tons of steel, 4,680 tons of copper, 685 tons of aluminum, 120 tons of molybdenum concentrate and 100 tons of lead.

Another trading floor of the IME was the oil and petrochemical which saw trade of 408,779 tons of commodities on both its domestic and export pits worth more than $201 million.

On this floor the IME's customers purchased 217,000 tons of vacuum bottom, 68,103 tons of bitumen, 57,546 tons of polymeric products, 26,420 tons of chemicals, 33,200 tons of lube cut, 3,293 tons of base oil, 50 tons of argon, 250 tons of insulation rolls and 1,275 tons of sulfur.

Based on this report, the IME also traded on its agricultural trading floor 2,500 kg of saffron.

 Moreover, the exchange traded 1,473 tons of commodities on its 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.

As reported, over 33.39 million tons of goods valued at 3.12 quadrillion rials (about $74.43 billion) were traded at the exchange’s physical market, registering 27 percent and 127 percent of growth in terms of weight and value, respectively.

In the mentioned 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.

The IME’s mineral and industrial trading floor witnessed the trade of 13.738 million tons of commodities worth more than 1.66 quadrillion rials (about $39.5 billion) in the said year.

This floor was a platform to sell 12.437 million tons of steel, 207,205 tons of copper, 238,920 tons of aluminum, 13,795 tons of zinc, 1,300 tons of cast iron, 515 tons of lead, and 675 kg of gold bars.

On its oil and petrochemical trading floor, the IME traded more than 5.141 million tons of commodities worth over 833 trillion rials (over $19.8 billion), to register 11 percent and 96 percent of growth in terms of value and weight, respectively.

Saffron and dates were the top traded commodities on the agricultural floor with 84 tons of saffron and 610 tons of dates being sold on this floor.

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