Trade at the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) reached 4,311 trillion rials ($13.6 billion) in the first half of current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22).
Total trade shot up 67% on the first six months of the last fiscal year, the IME website, imereport.ir, reported.
IME is a commodities exchange in Tehran hosting deals in farm, industrial and petrochemical products in the spot and futures markets. Steel, aluminum sponge iron, copper, bitumen, petrochemicals, sulfur are also traded.
The jump in spot market deals was the main driver of overall growth. It hosted commodities worth 4,053 trillion rials ($12.78b), up 65% y/y. Commodities weighing 55 million tons changed hands in the spot market, up 111%.
Sizeable growth in the spot market is partly due to cement trade after factories were obliged by the Industries Ministry to sell only through the IME.
Commodities traded on the mineral and industrial floor increased 174% in volume and 84% in value y/y. Trade via this floor in H1 weighed 45.9 million tons worth 2,452 trillion rials ($7.73b).
On the petrochemical floor, 3.02 million tons worth 875 trillion rials ($2.76b) were sold while the petroleum area handled 5.6 million tons worth 647 trillion rials ($2.04b).
Derivatives Down
Unlike the spot market, trade in derivatives declined in H1. An estimated 1.9 million derivative contracts worth 74.42 trillion rials ($234.8 million) changed hands in the period, down 5% in volume but up 26% in value from the first half of last year.
Derivative instruments included 1.26 million futures worth 73 trillion rials and 642,000 options contracts valued at 1.1 trillion rials.
The IME also hosted 72 standard salaf contracts. A salaf contract is an Islamic contract similar to futures with the difference being that the total price should be paid in advance.
A total of 475.4 million commodity-based certificates of deposit worth 112.4 trillion rials were sold in the period.
Monthly Trade
An estimated 9.857 million tons of goods were handled in the IME spot market in the last calendar month to Sept. 22. Compared to the month before, deals plunged 4.4% in terms of volume. Traded goods were worth almost 700 trillion rials ($2.2b, up 7%.
As always, industrial and mineral products contributed the most to trade, accounting for 84% of volume and 61% of value, respectively, in the spot market.
More than 8.187 million tons of goods worth 442 trillion rials ($1.39b) changed hands on the industrial and mineral floor in the month.
Cement topped the list with 4.362 million tons followed by 1.727 million tons of steel. Other commodities included 1.541 million tons iron ore, 24,980 tons copper, 36,000 tons aluminum, 458,500 tons sponge iron, 74,400 tons zinc, 790 tons molybdenum concentrate, 200 tons coke, 72 tons precious metal concentrate and 92 kilograms gold ingot.
Commodities traded on the petrochemical and petroleum floor reached 1.616 million tons worth 249 trillion rials ($785 m).
According to the IME, commodities in this category included 437,720 tons of bitumen, 424,602 tons polymer, 138,754 tons chemicals, 22,017 tons base oil and 428,000 tons vacuum bottom, plus 25,900 tons sulfur, 142,900 tons lube cut and 1,980 tons moisture insulation materials.
Deals in the IME Side Market reached 52,986 tons of miscellaneous goods. No deal was reported on the key agriculture floor.
