KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- e-POMEX, the newly launched electronicexchange for palm oil products, would be available for internationalplayers from the first quarter next year, said chief executive officer ofEcomex Palm Oil (M) Sdn Bhd, Akib Sebli.

He said that for a start, e-POMEX is looking at major palm oil importersnamely Japan, India, the Middle East, Egypt and Europe.

"During the exhibition (2001 PIPOC), some participants from India andTaiwan have shown some interest for e-POMEX," he told Bernama at the 2001Internatiol Palm Oil Congress (2001 PIPOC), here today.

The three-day congress organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, endstoday.

Currently, e-POMEX is only available for the domestic market.

Some leading producers such as Golden Hope and Austral Enterprises havegiven firm support to the system.

Others include the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) IOI, SimeDarby and KL Kepong.

Akib said that the system was initially made available for the domesticmarket.

If volume improves, international players would be more keen on thesystem.

"We believe the optimum usage of the system in the domestic market can bereached within eight to 10 months," he added.

The early acceptance and usage of the exchange from its first trading dayon Oct 1, 2001, will permit early expansion of product scope to includerefined products and speciality fats.

Akib said that this would enable the industry to have a wider coverage astraders were able to trade with multiple partners.

As the system is available 24 hours a day, even the different time zonewithin countries would not be a barrier to conduct business.

"Transparency is the most important factor here, as trading is recordedfrom the stage of offering right to negotiation and the actualtransaction," he said.

He added that such transactions would be very useful for the playersinvolved, especially public listed companies as it would refect a verygood corporate governance.

e-POMEX is the world's first and only electronic exchange for the tradingof oil palm products for physical delivery.

-- BERNAMA