Iran Mercantile Exchange witnessed the trading of more than $8.5 billion worth of commodities in the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 20), IME Managing Director Hamed Soltani-Nejad said on Saturday. “This year we expect to see remarkable growth in trade value compared with last year’s $13.4 billion,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA. Founded in 2006, IME trades in agricultural, industrial and petrochemical products in spot and futures markets. Last week, the exchange featured Salaf contracts for wheat to finance the government’s wheat purchase from farmers this year. The three-day offering ended on Saturday. Salaf is an Islamic futures contract used to forward sell a commodity with a predetermined interest for the period. Government Trading Corporation of Iran offered 32 million wheat Salaf contracts to raise 26.5 trillion rials ($745.2 million at market exchange rate) from the sale. The company will use the money to buy wheat from farmers under its guaranteed purchase scheme.
