Establishment Period
X In the second half of the 19th century, the expansion of trade volume in the province of Izmir brought a number of challenges. While solutions could be developed for issues such as transportation and storage, the inadequate conditions under which products were brought to market had a negative impact on commercial life.
Although there were places in Izmir where buyers and sellers gathered, negotiated and traded various products due to the city’s active commercial life, these places could not be regarded as commodity exchanges in the modern sense.
Ottoman Period and Regulation
The General Exchanges Regulation, issued by the Ottoman State in 1886 as the first regulation concerning commodity exchanges, clearly stated that the establishment of exchanges would be undertaken by the state and that only one exchange could be established in each city.
The exchange of Nişli Hacı Ali Efendi was officially reopened with a ceremony on Monday, 13 June 1892. When the building became inadequate after a period of time, the exchange moved to the building that now houses the Provincial Directorate of Tourism.
Republican Period and the New Building
The Izmir Commodity Exchange, whose establishment process began in 1891 and which was officially recognized by the government and inaugurated in 1892, obtained its official regulation only in 1895.
Facing ongoing difficulties regarding its premises, the Exchange took action to construct its own building. A plot of approximately one thousand nine hundred square metres, located on block number 161 in the fire-damaged area on the Second Kordon, was allocated by the Municipality. The foundation of the building was laid with a magnificent ceremony on 25 November 1926, and it was inaugurated on 23 July 1928 in the presence of more than one thousand guests and members of the public.
