09/08/05 KUALA LUMPUR, (Bernama) -- MSC-status company, Oilpalmworld SdnBhd, hopes to have 1,000 or more companies registering for itselectronic-Marketplace (e-Marketplace) trading solution by year end, whichis the first comprehensive virtual marketplace for the palm oil and palmoil-related industries.

Managing director of Oilpalmworld (OPW) John Kuruvilla said that todate,it has 526 companies registered as members from 59 countries while itswebsite, www.oilpalmworld.com received 20,000 hits per day.

He said this to reporters after the launching of eMarketplace by Ministerof Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Peter Chin today inconjunction with the Commodity Week 2005.

The electronic trading is an alternative to the conventional way of doingbusiness transactions, and it served as a real-time exchange to facilitatethe physical trading of palm oil and palm oil-based products and services.

At this initial stage, the trading platform would be offered free ofcharge for the first month on promotional purposes.

This is to enable companies to seek the benefit and evaluate the potentialof the trading platform in assisting their existing businesses.

It would then be charged 50 cents (US$) per tonne for transaction,thereafter.

Todate, four top Malaysian plantation companies had registered andevaluating the potential of the services offered, including KL Kepong, IOICorporation, Felda and Perlis Plantation Bhd.

"Besides the plantation-based companies, this trading also targets thebroader industry such as buyers, traders, financiers, transporters,insurers as well as suppliers," he said.

Asked why the electronic platform was only recently developed when theelectronic trading for rival commodity, soybean, has already made headway,Kuruvilla said that the platform was developed three years ago with aninitial cost of RM6.2 million.

The company also received seed capital from the government amounting toRM2.8 million.

"It took awhile to develop the platform and to capture the clientele aswell as to fine tune the requirements. But with the launching today, wehope more people will start using the trading platform," he added.

"We have put in place our business plan and believed that our operationsshould start growing from this month," he said, adding that the company isalso developing electronic trading platform for banking and financeindustry.

"This is our second phase project and the platform is almost 50 percentcompleted," he added.

Meanwhile Peter Chin lauded the forward looking initiatives taken by theindustry players in enhancing and developing the palm oil industry, inline with the global needs.

He also commended the initiative taken by the company to leverage on theinformation and communications technology (ICT) development in thecountry.

"This may be something new for us, but we are proud to see that theindustry has been able to continuously adapt itself in the changing world.The ministry is pinning a great deal of confidence on this platform," headded.

-- BERNAMA