04 October 2001 Business Times) - MALAYSIA’S first electronic exchange forpalm oil — ePomex — has seen “several tonnes” of the commodity exchanginghands after three days of trading.The exchange, developed by Ecomex Palm Oil Sdn Bhd with an investment ofRM3.5 million, went online October 1 and is utilised by 13 palmoil-related firms.Of the 13 companies, sources said, three are palm oil sellers, namelyGolden Hope Plantations Bhd, IOI Corp Bhd and Austral Enterprises. The 10buyers consist of both domestic and international buyers includingrefiners such as Pan Century, Kuok Group and Cargill.“So far, several tonnes have been traded on the exchange by the marketplayers,” a source told Busines Times in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.He said more sellers and buyers were expected to participate in ePomex.New sellers which have expressed their interest to participate as early asnext week include Sime Darby Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and the FederalLand Development Authority (Felda).Ecomex Palm Oil chairman Datuk Ali Hassan is expected to issue an officialstatement today providing more details which include total volume andvalue transacted to date.Meanwhile, an industry source said what was important was for the portalto strengthen its system and eliminate fears and doubts which may ariseamong participants using ePomex.“Some of the fears include accidental pressing of computer keys during atransaction and how to rectify them. ePomex must grow gradually butsteadily as it progresses,” said the analyst who has expertise in theinformation technology field.The analyst added ePomex was also on track to be the international hub tocater to transactions across the world’s exchanges by the first quarter ofnext year.The ePomex is a portal which brings together growers, millers, refiners,downstream manufacturers and overseas buyers in a single electronic marketplace.With the portal, buyers and sellers which will never meet by usingtraditional means of communications such as telephone, facsimile and telexare actually brought together through the new mean.Traders can communicate simultaneously with multiple parties from anysegment of the world’s market at any part of the world by the stroke of acomputer key and can be conducted across the globe 24 hours for sevendays.