The long-established GDT Events auction is the barometer that sets the mood of dairy farmers across New Zealand, providing as it does the current world prices for a range of dairy commodities based on completed sales.
While its auction result at the start of August brought cheer, with whole milk powder up almost 10per cent, it has previously delivered depressing news for any cash-strapped dairy farmers as prices have eased back considerable over the past 18 months.
In response to feedback from its customers and the wider industry, Global Dairy Trade recognised there was an opportunity to provide a complementary dairy trading platform that offered flexibility and the ability to deal in smaller quantities.
«The launch of GDT Marketplace provides a flexible and convenient channel for buyers and sellers of dairy products,» says Eric Hansen, a director of Global Dairy Trade.
«The market is constantly evolving and we need to ensure Global Dairy Trade continues to lead the way in supporting the online trade of dairy.
«GDT Marketplace also allows our customers to pursue e-commerce methods of doing business.»
He stresses that GDT Marketplace complements GDT Events and GDT Insights, so that together the three services offer users more choice.
«GDT Events is the service for trading large-volume dairy ingredient products, as it has been since 2008. This platform will continue to bring buyers and sellers of large-volume products together to discover transparent reference prices for globally traded dairy.
«GDT Marketplace is an online sales channel that offers our customers the flexibility to buy and/or sell a broad range of products, in any quantity, any time. Furthermore, the prices are confidential to approved buyers on GDT Marketplace, and no prices or individual trade will be published.
«The initial market take-up is expected to come from the United States and Europe. But once we have moved through the roll-out phase, the platform will become available for all market regions and product categories.»
There is no set menu for products being sold, or being sought. It all comes down to who has something to offer for sale, and who is looking for a certain quantity of a specified product.
Wider range
Over time, GDT Marketplace is expecting to have a wide range of both standard and specialty products.
A typical offer, by way of example, might be from a seller who has 100 metric tonnes of organic butter for sale at a fixed price, and is willing to trade in quantities as low as 20 tonnes. Registered buyers happy with those terms can click to make the sale, provided delivery is within New Zealand or to an eligible export location.
Other sellers might not specify a price and elect to use GDT Marketplace as a global version of Trade Me or eBay, where would-be buyers have to place a tender.
«There is no set limit on volume and GDT Marketplace is suitable for any dairy product, so we expect to see a range of quantities offered, from larger ingredients in metric tonnes to smaller listings for speciality or high-value products in kgs or lbs,» says Mr Hansen.
«However, a typical trade might be 3-4 containers of lactose, with eligibility into a number of export markets.»
Fonterra’s part
Fonterra has been confirmed as the foundation seller at launch. Global Dairy Trade is working with a small group of additional sellers interested in joining the platform.
The new GDT Marketplace will roll out progressively over time, with the aim to become the leading platform of its type in the world. It already provides sophisticated search and filter capabilities, and the software will develop along with demand.
«Users can search, filter and sort within a global shop front and conduct their transaction quickly and intuitively.»
Another feature that could prove to be a drawcard is that pricing on GDT Marketplace is private. The prices for fixed-price listings are visible only to buyers who have been granted eligibility. For tender listings, the reserve price is not visible to any buyers, and the winning prices are disclosed to the winning buyers only.
The sellers manage who can buy their product and approve eligible export destinations.
The software makes it easy to find and compare products from a range of sellers and could lead to new demand from a global pool of buyers.
In the tender process, buyers place a sealed bid, setting the maximum quantity and maximum price desired and minimum acceptable quantity. They can submit multiple quantity/price combinations.
Winners are determined by automated algorithm and all bidders are notified of their outcome. Prices remain confidential between seller and winning buyer.
«GDT Marketplace will become a global shop front for sellers to promote their brand and products to the world.»
There is also a Watchlist facility that enables registered users to receive a notification when a watched or bid-on listing is updated or about to close. All notifications are available by email and within the system as in-app messages.
Meeting demand
Fonterra’s managing director global ingredients, Kelvin Wickham, says GDT Marketplace provides an additional sales channel by meeting growing demand in the dairy market for online business-to-business transactions.
«E-commerce is increasingly seen as convenient and open for business whenever customers want to make purchases. Dairy is no exception,» he says.
«Online trading is ideal for customers purchasing smaller volumes who want convenience and availability at a time that suits them. We see this as an opportunity to grow our sales both with existing customers and as an ideal way to reach new customers over time.»
The Fonterra offering will exclude product specifications already sold on GDT Events.
«Many of our major customers look to us to combine both ingredients and services which create value for them and for us.»
Source: NZHerald
Link: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11700579
