Coffee traders worldwide are invited to begin buying and selling online today at eGreenCoffee.com, billed as the first B2B exchange for trading green (raw)coffee securely and anonymously. The new exchange is aiming to eliminate market inefficiencies and streamline the trading process throughout the global supply chain of the $50 billion green coffee market.
Once the exchange beds in, eGreenCoffee plans to develop an online trading site for cocoa that will go live by mid-2001. The company says it will also create similar sites for the $150 billion soft commodity market that includes tea, sugar, rice, corn, wheat, citrus and cotton.
"Our philosophy from the beginning was creating a trading platform for the commodities world, starting with coffee," says Hanif Moledina, CEO, president and founder of eGreenCoffee and a 16-year veteran of the coffee and tea industry. Moledina estimates that about 25 percent of green coffee will be traded on the site within two to three years.
eGreenCoffee's Web site is intended as a single source for producers, exporters, importers, roasters, financiers, futures brokers and logistics management companies involved in the green coffee trade. Green coffee - raw, pre-roasted coffee named after the color of the beans - is the world's second largest commodity after oil.
In the highly fragmented green coffee market, rife with poor communications and information exchange, beans typically change hands multiple times in the sales process. Using eGreenCoffee.com, the buyer can clearly see the price and quality of products that match his criteria and also facilitate just-in-time and vendor-managed inventory strategies. The seller has a direct line to the global market.
This streamlined process can deliver potential price savings for consumers amounting to 12.5 percent worldwide, claims Moledina.