The Iran Mercantile Exchange is ready to resume offering cars after a short pause, says an official with Iran Securities and Exchange Organization.
"Based on the recent decision by the Supreme Council of the Stock Exchange and Securities, the IME is open to requests for listing from automakers," Amir Mehdi Sabaei, director of Supervision Over Exchanges at the SEO, was quoted as saying by IBENA on Monday.
Sabaei said the SEO does not impose any restrictions on car listings on the exchange. “Selling vehicles via IME is a decision that must be taken by automakers and the SEO has not created any hurdles in this regard.
About 1,705 vehicles were sold at the market in the second month of the current year despite the huge trade last year. Per data, only commercial vehicles, namely heavy-duty and light-duty vehicles, were sold during the period.
Auto sale via the IME resumed in the last fiscal year with the sale of 68,215 vehicles. Peugeot 207s topped the list with 17,200 units. In the same period 9,970 Tara cars, produced/assembled by IKCO were bought followed by 3,606 Shahin sedans made by the same company, 2,978 Fidelity (Chinese) models manufactured/assembled by Bahman Motors were sold along with 6,105 Haima of Iran Khodro and 1,314 Dignity brands.
Bahman Motors also sold 2,598 Kara pickups, a popular vehicle in Iran originally produced by Mazda.
Data show that 1,426 Lamari Eamas of Arian Pars Motor, 69 KMC T8s by Kerman Motor and 68 JAC S5s by Kerman Motor were bought.
Heavy-duty vehicles, FAW and EM Power brands from China assembled by Bahman Motors and Siba Motor, were also in demand. A total 854 Empower puller trucks by Bahman Diesel and 185 FAW puller trucks from Siba Motor were traded.
Auto sale via the IME was temporarily suspended by the Industries Ministry in May of last year. It argued that the practice was incompatible with rules to regulate the chaotic auto market and added to volatility.
However, the ministry’s move was censured by market observers and stakeholders for “undermining transparency” that hurt efforts to curb the government’s arbitrary pricing intervention in the auto market.
In July the ministry backtracked and the High Council of Securities and Exchange decided to resume the sale of selected brands. Per current procedures, only cars not subject to pricing mechanism by the government are offered at the IME.
