More than 2.74 million tons of goods worth 349 trillion rials ($1.45 billion) were traded at the Iran Mercantile Exchange in the last Iranian month that ended on April 20.
The deals grew 350% in volume and 54% in value compared to the same month a year before, the IMEs public relations website reported.
IME is a commodities exchange in Tehran founded in 2006 to host deals in farm, industrial and petrochemical products in the spot and futures markets.
Trade in said month included industrial and mineral products weighing 1.42 million tons worth 184 trillion rials ($766 million).
As always steel topped the list with 1.097 million tons followed by iron ore at 300,000 tons, copper 11,780 tons, aluminum 11,325 tons, coke 400 tons, molybdenum concentrate 360 tons and 100 tons of lead.
Goods traded on the petrochemical and petroleum floor reached 1.31 million tons worth 163 trillion rials ($680m).
IME said commodities under the category included 354,567 tons of bitumen, 237,258 tons polymer products, 124,668 tons of petrochemicals, 12,446 tons base oil and 460,100 tons vacuum bottom. The list also includes 10,040 tons sulfur, 310 tons argon and 111,200 tons lube cut.
On the agriculture floor 2.5 tons of saffron was traded. The IME's Side Market hosted deals for goods weighing 3,754 tons in the period.
At the derivative market, more than 2.1 million futures contracts changed hand valued at 31.98 trillion rials ($133.2m). Underlying assets of the traded futures were saffron, pistachio, cumin and silver. Derivative deals increased 70% in volume and 85% in value compared the a month ago.
A futures contract is a legal agreement to buy or sell a particular commodity asset, or security at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future. Futures contracts are standardized for quality and quantity to facilitate trading on a futures exchange.
Traders exchanged 3.325 million commodity-linked certificates of deposit (CD) at IME during the month valued at 4.06 trillion rials ($16.6m). The CDs were backed by gold coins, saffron, rice, pistachio, raisin, cumin and date.
With 3.49 trillion rials ($14.5m) the gold-based CD topped the list in value terms. Investors exchanged 3.32 million gold CDs in the period.
Commodity CD is a security indicating ownership of the holder on a particular amount of a commodity supported by standard warehouse receipt issued by the warehouses certified by the Securities and Exchange Organization, the Iranian capital market regulator.
Selling a CD in the primary market means selling the stored or deposited commodity by the owner, and buying it means buying of such commodity. CDs securitize a company’s product inventory and offer buyers easy ownership of goods without the usual hassles of storage and insurance.
