* IGE plans to develop platinum, palladium market next year
* Exchange mulls creation of base metals market in Istanbul
* Gold imports still seen weak in full year 2010
(Adds detail, comment)
By Jan Harvey
BERLIN, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The Istanbul Gold Exchange is planning to list spot palladium alongside gold and platinum from next year and is mulling the launch of a base metals market, the IGE's deputy manager told Reuters on Monday,
"We are intending to make not (only) gold but other precious metals such as ... palladium ... traded on the exchange," Saliha Ascensio said on the sidelines of the London Bullion Market Association annual conference.
"It would be spot traded," she said. "In 2011 we are intending to do that."
"Palladium is not something that is accepted as a precious metal in Turkey," Ascensio said. "So we have a project to make palladium also a precious metal (on the exchange).
"We are also intending to open a precious stones and diamond market," she added.
The exchange already trades large volumes of gold, and platinum is listed but little traded. "Theoretically, platinum can be traded, but there is not enough demand," said Ascensio.
She said the exchange is also mulling the launch of an industrial metals market. "We are also intending to make a market like the LME in base metals," she said.
She said while there was a lot of activity in base metals in Turkey, the pricing depends on the London Metal Exchange as a reference.
"We are intending to open a base metals market to make IGE prices the reference price for Turkey and also the region, the neighbouring countries," she said.
DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS
She said no date was yet on the cards for the project to come to fruition but that the time was right to offer a wider range of products to Turkish investors.
"Commodities prices are very volatile, and commodities are quite popular," she said. "In Turkey, to bring different kinds of instruments to trade ... would help both retail and corporate investors."
Commenting on gold, Ascensio said she expected Turkish bullion imports to remain relatively low this year after high prices curbed demand in 2008 and 2009.
Turkey is one of the world's biggest gold consuming countries, with figures from the IGE showing imports averaging 187 tonnes a year over the 10 years to 2009, according to a report by metals consultancy GFMS.
Although levels have dropped in recent years, GFMS figures show the country was still the sixth-largest gold consumer in terms of fabrication demand last year, behind India, China, the United States, Japan and Italy.
In 2010 to the month of August, Turkey's imports stood at 27.236 tonnes.
Gold prices were up on Monday after earlier reaching a record $1,300 an ounce.
(Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Jane Baird)