Tuesday trading at the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) was accompanied by offering of corn, both from local and overseas suppliers, on the agricultural trading floor, IME’s Public Relations and Foreign Affairs reported.
Close to 73,640 tons of corn from local suppliers, 1,490 tons of corn from Brazil, and 200 tons of Russian corn were put up on the floor’s board on Tuesday. In addition, 1,200 tons of frozen chicken, and 200 tons of cubic sugar were offered to be traded by local customers. The report also showed 400 tons of steel billet and 1,000 tons of alloy ingots were offered by Iran Aluminum Company on the industrial and mining trading floor. Moreover, 20,0oo tons of bloom, 12,048 tons of rebar, and 2,790 tons of I-beam were offered by Esfahan Steel Company. Furthermore, the oil and petrochemical trading floor played host to 65,363 tons of 50 grades of polymers offered by local petrochemical complexes. Elsewhere, the export trading floor played host to 111,000 tons of bitumen, as well 30,000 tons of sulfur to be exported overseas.
IME Set to Regulate Scrap Metal Market
Recognizing the importance of scrap metal in completing the steel industry value chain, the IME has launched a program aimed at regulating the scrap metal’s turbulent market, Fooladnews reported.
“The IME is set to register scrap metal offered by major suppliers such as the ministry of petroleum, municipalities, auto manufacturers, and junkyards”, said Ali Panahi, the IME’s deputy head, adding that the new mechanism would help determine the real value of scrap metal. Scrap rails and metal filings from the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway (IRIR) Company – one of the biggest suppliers of the scrap metal in the country – were officially registered at IME’s secondary market and became tradable since last summer. Large amounts of scrap metal by IRIR have regularly been registered at IME ever since. Iran produces 2 million tons of scrap metal annually, while another 2 million tons is required to meet the domestic demand. Therefore, huge amounts of scrap metal are imported from neighboring countries every year.
Experts believe the shortage of scrap metal in Iran poses a serious threat to the domestic steel industry as the current steel production, reaching almost 20 million tons per year, requires more supply of the used material. Being a strategic raw material for the steel industry, the fluctuations in the scrap metal prices could influence the prices of steel products considerably.
“In recent years, the scrap metal market has gone through turbulences due to the growing demand and declining supplies. Currently, the scrap metal market has no guild or union, giving way to unstable prices and lack of transparency in the market”, said Mohammad Siavashi, the commercial manager of a private company active in the scrap metal market.
Market analysts believe if the IME manages to systematically offer scrap metal from the government and private sources, it would help determine the material’s prices and regulate the market, thereby benefiting the steelmakers. Steel manufacturers can make significant savings on energy, raw materials and recycling by using scrap metals. The use of scrap metal also helps to lower the level of water consumption and air and water pollution. But above all, producing every ton of fresh steel from scrap metal saves 1,115 kilograms of iron ore. According to experts, once the scrap metal market is regulated by the IME and the prices are determined, it would be possible to measure the amount of deficit in the market and accordingly plan to either increase the scrap metal production through development of metal recycling industries or to increase the level of imports.
