Dairy giant Fonterra is opening its online dairy products trading platform globalDairyTrade, to allow other dairy companies to sell their products on the platform. It also intends to widen the range of Fonterra products for sale on globalDairyTrade. “Fonterra has been working with a number of international dairy companies to develop draft market rules that will enable this to happen,” says Gary Romano, managing director, Fonterra Trade & Operations. Major dairy producers Arla Foods and FrieslandCampina from Europe; California Dairies and DairyAmerica from the West Coast of the USA; and Murray Goulburn from Australia have had input into the development of a draft set of market rules that will govern multiple sellers using the platform, though no company has yet committed to offer product on the platform. Romano says that when globalDairyTrade was launched in July 2008 it was envisaged that other sellers of dairy products would eventually join the platform. “globalDairyTrade is releasing the draft rules today so that industry participants and stakeholders have the opportunity to offer suggestions and feedback. All parties are keen to be open and transparent so that globalDairyTrade moves to the next phase of its development with continued wide support from the global industry.” He says having other sellers on globalDairyTrade will add more volume and will lead to even more reliable price discovery. At the same time, it has the potential to attract more buyers, given the platform will offer products from different geographies, enabling better risk management. Since the launch globalDairyTrade sales have totalled US$3.2 billion. It currently trades around 600,000 metric tonnes of Fonterra products a year and has more than 300 registered bidders from 58 countries.”
Fonterra opens up online trading platform
Since its launch in 2008 globalDairyTrade sales have reached US$3.2 billion