Oil products costing $108 million were traded in the international ring of the Iran Energy Exchange in one month to August 15.
Heavy naphtha was the main item with a total of value of $36 million, according to data tracked by the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
It was followed by gasoline and diesel. The value of gasoline trade was $28.8m and diesel $22.9m. In addition, gas condensates worth $11.4m were sold at the energy bourse.
Moreover, solvent 402 and jet fuel worth $3.8m and $1.2 m were sold, respectively.
After the US under Donald Trump walked away from the historic nuclear deal in May 2018 and vowed to drive Iran's oil exports to zero, the Tehran government has been doing all it can to counter the hostile US moves and export oil
One such measure is diversifying oil sale methods, including offering oil and oil products in the Tehran share market.
IRENEX was given a mandate to offer crude oil in the autumn of 2018. Save for a few initial deals, the initiative has so far not helped much.
The state-owned National Iranian Oil Company offered heavy crude at regular intervals in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20) but suspended trade due to lack of buyers.
New data show significant increase in the value of deals at IRENEX. A previous review for the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 20-July 21) showed trade grew by 540% on annualized basis to reach $295m.
Contributing Factors
The upsurge is linked to increasing diversity of goods offered via this exchange, increase in foreign exchange rates in Iran and easing trading conditions.
“Easing the bureaucracy and scrapping cumbersome rules in the process of listing new products, plus issuing trading codes for foreign investors indeed had a positive effect on the energy exchange,” Hossein Nowruzi Zadeh, the Pasargad Brokerage deputy head for IRENEX trade was quoted as saying Securities and Exchange News Agency (SENA).
So far 155 commodities and 46 power plants have been listed on the energy bourse.
Decline in IME Trade
The value and volume of trade at the Iran Mercantile Exchange in the month to August 15 dropped by 17.9% and 29.8%, respectively, compared to the earlier month.
Companies traded 1.93 million tons of goods worth 173 trillion rials ($780m) in the mercantile bourse during the month compared to 2.75 million tons valued at 211 trillion rials ($959m) a month earlier.
Regarding performance of industries operating at the IME, the value of trade in the petrochemicals and oil products category saw a 12.1% decline on a monthly basis. There also was a 24% decline in the volume of deals in the month.
Petrochemicals and oil products weighing 1.12 million tons and worth 79.33 trillion rials ($360m) were traded during the month at the IME.
In the industries category, a total of 807,000 tons of goods worth 94.31 trillion rials were traded in the same month, indicating 27.1% and 19.7% monthly decline in volume and value, respectively.
The value of mineral trade, however, was zero during the reviewed month.
