Fifty-seven grades of polymers were offered by 17 local petrochemical complexes at Iran Mercantile Exchange spot market on Tuesday, IME reported.
The oil and petrochemical trading floor recorded the offering of 64,149 tons of polymers, including polyvinyl chloride, styrene butadiene rubber, polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene. The board also saw 44,000 tons of bitumen, 3,520 tons of vacuum bottoms and 2,500 tons of sulfur.
The export trading floor played host to 3,400 tons of bitumen 60/70.
The industrial and mining trading floor featured 10,000 tons of steel channels by Hormozgan Steel Company at the base price of 13,300 rials per kg. Almahdi Hormozal Aluminum Company offered 3,000 tons of aluminum ingots with 99.7-percent purity and priced at 65,580 rials per kg.
Around 38,035 tons of corn, 4,785 tons of rice, 4,000 tons of durum wheat, 10,000 tons of white sugar, 290 tons of soybean meal plate and 35 tons of barley were offered on the agricultural trading floor.
Overall, more than 258,000 tons of commodities were listed in IME’s spot market on Tuesday.
Copper Debuts at Export Floor
Copper is due to be offered at IME’s export trading floor for the first time today (Wednesday), after having been traded at local trading floors over the past decade, announced head of National Iranian Copper Industries Company, Morad Alizadeh.
“Offering copper at IME’s export trading floor in collaboration with the Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization can help NICIC expand its exports which have been affected by western sanctions [imposed against Iran over its nuclear energy program],” said Alizadeh.
Price discovery will be carried out based on global prices, he added.
Petrochemical Prices Down
The prices of most chemical products announced by the Petrochemical Downstream Industries Development Company for the first half of the next Iranian month of Tir (June 22-July 6) indicate a decline compared with the similar period of the current month.
Shiraz Petrochemical Complex’s sodium carbonates, Shazand Petrochemical Company’s 2-ethylhexanol, Fanavaran Petrochemical Company’s acetic acid, Petrochimi Bandar Imam’s caustic soda and Khorasan Petrochemical Company’s liquid ammonia all registered a drop in their prices.
Market analysts are expecting the recent decline in global prices of chemicals and chemical products as well as reduced domestic demand to negatively impact the local market prices.
IME Seeks to Boost Saffron Exports
In a meeting between IME officials and saffron suppliers in Khorasan Razavi Province, the two sides discussed using mercantile exchange as a platform to boost saffron production and exports.
“IME has been striving over the past three years to expand trade of agricultural products,” said head of IME’s risk assessment and research office, Javad Fallah.
“If the farmers can supply agricultural commodities in accordance with international standards and store them in IME’s approved warehouses, they can have direct access to buyers via export trading floor without middlemen’s interference,” he added.
