The new commodity trading platform OpenDairy officially launches this week. It was initiated by the two Dutch dairy traders Martijn Goedhart and Henk de Weijer, while Hans Caspers contributed his IT and media skills to the project.
Even before its launch, OpenDairy has about 40 clients, of which 10 are based in the Netherlands, about 15 in the rest of Europe and others in Egypt, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines. As Goedhart explained to the trade press on 18 January, OpenDairy aims to trade a volume of 40,000 tons in its first year. OpenDairy, Goedhart continued, should be understood as an ecosystem that brings together not only buyers and sellers, but also relevant service providers such as freight forwarders.
Overall, the settlement of contracts via OpenDairy should yield a saving of 70%, as margins from trading intermediaries are eliminated. With OpenDairy, fees are only charged if a deal is actually closed. The system is designed to handle specifications as well and automatically generates the necessary documentation. As Goedhart points out, OpenDairy is independent, not like Global Dairy Trade, which is basically a platform for Fonterra, or DAO, which mainly handles deals between traders. With OpenDairy, the seller knows who the goods are going to, Goedhart said, and arranging transport is included directly.
Commodity producers upload their offer to OpenDairy in a simple procedure and save time by meeting buyers directly. Goedhart also promises higher revenues and, in the end, added value for the milk producers.
