Organic Trading Goes On-Line

TradeOrganex gives customers access to a live database of hundreds of products including dairy, meat, fruit and vegetables, grain and other raw materials. Information about price, stock levels and organic certification is also accessible. On-line trading will be available from October.

“There has been a huge response to our recent advertising campaign, and we already have a wide range of companies signed up,” says senior trading manager Clive Griffiths.

“The market is becoming more sophisticated. With an increasing demand for organic convenience and other processed foods, manufacturers are finding it harder to secure year-round suppliers,” says Mr. Griffiths.

“TradeOrganex brings together the supplier and customer to facilitate this continuity. It increases the ability of small producers to market the whole product, potentially opening up more marketing opportunities and introducing more price competition.”

The company has allocated some 6 million to make TradeOrganex the main organic trading facility in Europe. Initial investment for set up and development of the site has used 1m, with the other 5m allocated over the next two years to ensure that the supply structure and auditing procedures and fully established.

Registration is free and there is a per transaction charge for the service.

“We are seeing a growth in the number of organic web-sites which is certainly a positive move for the sector,” said a spokesman from the Soil Association.

“On-line trading sites are useful as a basic marketing tool and as long as they are comprehensible, as TradeOrganex is, they can open up more marketing opportunities for producers.”