# Iran Mercantile Exchange

The Iran Mercantile Exchange (Persian: بورس کالای ایران, IME) is a commodities exchange located in Tehran, Iran. Established on 20 September 2007 from the merger of the Tehran Metal Exchange and the Iran Agricultural Exchange, IME trades in agricultural, metal and mineral, oil and petrochemical products in the spot market and gold coin in the futures market.

## Commodities

IME facilitates the trading of commodities and products through its markets.
IME's Listed Commodities on Different Trading Floors
| Main Group | Sub-Group | Commodities |
| Physical Market | Industrial & Mineral | Steel, Copper, Iron Ore, Aluminum, Zinc and rare metals concentrate, Gold bar |
| Physical Market | Agricultural Products | Barley, Wheat, Maize, Sugar, Crude Vegetable Oil, Frozen Chicken, and Meals, Saffron, Cumin Seed, Pistachios |
| Physical Market | Petrochemical Products | PP, PE, LDPE, aromatics, SBR feed stocks, MS, PS |
| Physical Market | Oil Products | Lube Cut, Insulation, Oil, Bitumen, Vacuum Bottom, Lube Cut, Slap Wax |
| Side Market | Side Market | Various Products with Non-Continuous Offering: Steel, Scraps, Polymers, Zinc, Chemicals, Minerals, Feeds, Copper, Sulfate, Lime |
| Derivatives Market | Futures Contracts | Saffron, Cumin Seed, Pistachios |
| Derivatives Market | Options Contracts | Gold Coins |
| Financial Market | Standard Parallel SALAM Contracts | Cement, Steel, Iron Ore, Ethylene, Concentrate, Wheat, Frozen Chicken, PVC |
| Financial Market | Certificates of Deposit | Gold Coins, Maize, Barley, Pistachios, Saffron |
| Financial Market | Investment Funds | Gold Coins. See also: Iranian gold coin |

## Products
### Industrial

* Steel
* Aluminum
* Copper
* Gold Bar
* Zinc
* Lead
* Precious Metals
* Nickel
* Industrial & Mineral (including cement)

### Petrochemicals & Oil by-products

* Bitumen
* Chemical
* Polymers
* Sulfur
* Base Oil
* Lube Cut

### Agricultural

* Grains Group: various kinds of corn, grain, wheat, rice, bran
* Dried and Trans Products: various kinds of pistachio, date, raisins, saffron, cumin, tea, sugar
* Oil Meals and Seeds Group: various kinds of oily seeds like soybean and oil cake seeds like soybean, colza, cotton seed, sunshade, Safflower cake, corn, palm
* Cereals Group: pea, lentil
* Frozen Chicken

## New products

In 2016, IME introduced gold futures and options (as hedging tools).

## Supervision and regulation

The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) is the sole regulatory entity for the regulation and development of the capital market in Iran. In 2013, Iran Mercantile Exchange joined the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) as an observer member.

## Tradable contracts

* Spot contract
* Forward contract
* Contract on Credit
* Futures contract (since 2008)
* Options contract

## Trading system

Trading in IME is based on open outcry auction using electronic trading platform, an interaction of bids and offers made by the buying and selling brokers.

## IME Statistics

Source: Central Bank of Iran :
| IME Exchange (Including spot, credit and forward transactions) | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11$^1$ | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
| Agricultural - Volume (thousand tons) | 273.0 | 173.5 | 175.2 | 1,633.9 | 549.6 | 184.5 | 266.2 |
| Agricultural - Value (billion rials) | 772.6 | 3,729.7 | 484.8 | 3,729.7 | 3,792.8 | 1,346.5 | 2,748.5 |
| Manufacturing and Metal - Volume (thousand tons) | 6,443.8 | 6,679.7 | 7,438.5 | 8,694.0 | 11,685.8 | 13,172.0 | 13,555.2 |
| Manufacturing and Metal - Value (billion rials) | 58,044.2 | 62,120.6 | 53,842.0 | 75,235.5 | 102,534.1 | 197,341 | 226,211.0 |
| Oil and Petrochemical - Volume (thousand tons) | 89.7 | 4,339.2 | 7,052.9 | 6,662.6 | 8,116.6 | 8,352.0 | 10,572.0 |
| Oil and Petrochemical - Value (billion rials) | 352.7 | 19,921.0 | 36,450.7 | 41,478.0 | 64,360.8 | 116,387.0 | 199,113.0 |
| Grand Total - Volume (thousand tons) | 6,806.5 | 11,192.4 | 14,666.6 | 16,990.5 | 20,352.0 | 21,708.5 | 24,393.4 |
| Grand Total - Value (billion rials) | 59,169.4 | 82,685.3 | 90,777.5 | 120,443.2 | 170,687.7 | 315,074.5 | 428,072.5 |
1 Due to the reclassification of "cement" under "manufacturing and mining products", figures for 2010/11 have been revised. Previously, "cement" was classified under "oil and petrochemical products".