MNA � Agriculture Bank of Iran (Keshavarzi Bank) has agreed to take advantage of its capacities to bring about an upswing in trades of pistachio in Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME).


In a meeting with the aim of expanding and regulating domestic and international trade of pistachio which was attended by the Governor General of Kerman Province, CEO of Agriculture Bank, Head of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, CEO of Iran Mercantile Exchange and the Kerman Province's Representatives to the Parliament held in the headquarters of the Agriculture Bank, it was stipulated that the Agriculture bank tap into its potentials to cause an upswing in trades of pistachio on the platform of IME.

According to a report by IME international affairs and PR the meeting revolved around the importance of the boost in trades of pistachio on IME and its role in making the prices real, eliminating unnecessary middlemen, necessity of preparing the groundwork for pistachio exports and the export-oriented approaches to its production. It was also decided for a meeting session to be held under the supervision of the National Development Fund of Iran with the presence of the province's representatives and officials of the Agriculture Bank in order to discuss Exports Financing especially for the agriculture sector, with a focus on pistachio, as well as the purchase rates for pistachio, maximum amount set for the line of credit for pistachio in harvest time and how and where the credit is used.

Also, it was stipulated that this line of credit for purchase of pistachios be specified by the agriculture bank to the buyers from IME's trading board the amount of the line of credit, which is to be provided from internal resources of the bank, be notified in a session by the management team of this bank in Kerman Province.

In addition to that the Agriculture bank is to take the necessary initiatives in order to facilitate the process of pledging the collaterals pursuant to the listing of IME's warehouses with the Central Securities Depository of Iran. Moreover, warehouses of Rafsanjan Pistachio Cooperative and Sirjan Pistachio Cooperative which have already gone through most of the listing procedure are waiting for the pledging of collaterals and will take care of the rest of the process.

One of the outcomes of this meeting session was the Pistachio Commodity Fund which was decided to be launched as a basis for running trades of pistachio certificates of deposit. It is now on the agenda for the Agriculture Bank with the Agriculture Brokerage responsible to follow the projects in coordination with Iran Mercantile Exchange. The Agriculture Bank is also to announce the engagement of all its branches (especially in Keraman, Sirjan, Rafsanjan, Ravar and Zarand Cities) in this project so that pistachio producers and purchasers can refer to them as to trades of pistachio on IME and the commodity fund IME has established on pistachio.

On the other hand, the Borna Gostaresh Tejarat Company (a subsidiary to Agriculture Bank) has been appointed and introduced to the market participants as the buying agent of the agricultural products of the province in the harvest time of pistachios and has been provided by the necessary funds as to it by the bank. Officials of the province have been asked to introduce more buying agents to the Agriculture Bank for going through the credit evaluation process in order for receiving internal credits for buying during the harvest time.

Kerman Province officials were also obliged in this session to provide IME officials with the standards for a few mass-produced types of pistachio which are highly liquid in order for IME to finalize the process of pistachio trades on its export ring along with launching trades of certificates of deposit on this agro-commodity.