Officials from the Interexchange Electric Union (IEU) and the Iran Mercantile Exchange plan to begin the exchange of various commodities once the required infrastructures are ready, an IEU official said in a press conference on Sunday.
Sergey Popudrenko, director of Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) underscored the importance of initiating cooperation between Iran and the IEU members, adding that the move can help boost Iran's trade ties with the IEU member states.
Popudrenko described the BUCE as the most active mercantile exchange in the CIS countries. He added that the BUCE started operation in 2003, collaborating with more than 60 commodity exchanges around the globe. He also mentioned that BUCE is willing to cooperate with the IME.
The current negotiations aim to provide a permanent trade link between Iran, the CIS countries and Eastern Europe.
“Building technical infrastructures and improvement of information technology services are essential steps that must be taken before launching online trading with the IEU members,” Ali Panahi, deputy of market development and Economic Research told in the opening ceremony of the press conference.
“Besides, warehousing industry has a key role in expanding trade with IEU member states,” he said, adding that Iran has giant industrial warehouses in its northern provinces, including three units in Bandar Anzali in Gilan Province, Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi Province and one in the northeastern province of Golestan. “The large capacities of these warehouses can help us meet the demands of exporters from the CIS nations.”
Panahi went on to say that both sides have expressed their interest to work on the exchange of various commodities including minerals and industrial goods, as well as agricultural products, especially pistachios, saffron, dates and nuts, adding that the export of these commodities could be a platform to launch further cooperation with the CIS and Eastern European states.
Panahi also pointed to cement, ceramic tiles, polymers, polypropylene and bitumen as the major industrial commodities Iran can export to the IEU member states.
“Some of these commodities are already being exported to the CIS countries, and this can ease their exchange through the IEU channel,” Panahi said.
Among the commodities Iran aims to import from the CIS countries, steel bullion has topped the requests.
The IEU, which enjoys a robust system in electronic exchange, and covers almost 3,000 commodities, has announced that member states can start the trading of 15 commodities on Iran Mercantile Exchange. Iran, for its part, has expressed interest to start trades with precious metals, petrochemicals and wood products.
Representatives from the IEU member states have emphasized that they intend to use the Kish Mercantile Exchange’s trading floor and warehouses as a platform to facilitate their trades with other countries in the region.
The IEU says that it is not a political organization. Its main goal is to help expand business ties among the CIS countries and also among new member states of the union. “Therefore, sanctions against Iran [over its nuclear program] are no barrier since and we have our own internal regulations,” Grigor Vardikian, IEU chairman said in a press conference on Sunday.
He noted that the IEU is not working with independent brokerages, though those authorized by its member states can officially conduct their own trading activities.
Vardikian went on to say that the IEU is also ready to start negotiations with Iran’s Energy Exchange, as its members are interested in purchasing oil and petrochemical products from Iran.
