An estimated 7.9 million tons of goods worth 665 trillion rials ($2.2 billion) were traded in the spot market of the Iran Mercantile Exchange in the calendar month that ended on May 21.
This was up 9% in volume and 11% in value from the month before, the IME public relations website reported.
Compared with the corresponding month of last fiscal year, the value of the deals rose 38% and volume 63%.
Goods worth 1,260 trillion rials ($4.2 billion) changed hands in the market in the first two months of current fiscal year (March 21-May 21).
IME is a commodity exchange in Tehran founded in 2006 to host deals in farm, industrial and petrochemical products in the spot and futures markets.
Industrial and mineral products contributed the most to the IME trade. Commodities weighing 6.680 million tons worth 403 trillion rials ($1.3 billion) were sold in the said month.
Cement topped the list with 4.352 million tons followed by 1.179 million tons of steel products. Other trade included 764,000 tons iron ore, 33,155 tons copper, 39,725 tons aluminum, 257,500 tons sponge iron, 72,124 tons zinc, 700 tons molybdenum concentrate, 500 tons coke, 24 tons lead, 24 tons precious metal concentrate and 23 kilograms of gold.
Traded on the petrochemical and petroleum floor stood at 1.215 million tons worth 249 trillion rials ($830 million) and were sold to both the domestic and foreign buyers.
According to the IME report, commodities under this category included 270,276 tons of bitumen, 340,445 tons polymers, 176,309 tons petrochemicals, 15,713 tons base oil and 225,600 tons vacuum bottom. The list also included 33,115 tons of sulfur, 330 tons argon, 154,000 tons lube cut and 310 tons moisture insulation materials.
IME's Side Market hosted 43,644 tons of assorted goods in the period while the agriculture floor handled 5 tons of the costly spice, saffron.
For the first time in its history, the IME traded 117 ‘Cara’ cars. The auto offer, though not significant, is seen as a sign of a broader plan to move all auto transactions to IME.
As per plans, cars that are not subject to pricing mechanism by the government can be sold via the IME.
Like other products that recently made debut at the IME, cars too will join the list following calls to curb, and possibly eliminate, the government’s intervention in pricing.
The IME says the market is gaining increasing attention and it will list a wider range of items. In its annual trade report, it said traded goods weighed 76.146 million tons in the spot market last year (March 2021-22), which was 128% higher on the earlier year.
Deals in the spot market reached 6,300.6 trillion rials ($23.3b), climbing 102% from the year earlier and logging the highest annual growth since IME’s inception in 2006.
