TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange (ZMX), an electronic agricultural commodities trading platform, is ready to start registering farmers and buyers for the 2023 marketing season to trade their commodities, group CEO, Collen Tapfumaneyi (pictured) has said.
He said ZMX was currently allowed to trade 49 commodities.
“…This being the start of 2023 of our marketing season, ZMX is now ready to start registering buyers and farmers to trade their commodities as they harvest,” Tapfumaneyi told Business Times.
He said as a licensed commodities exchange, ZMX is operating the warehouse receipt system where farmers deposit their commodities and get a warehouse receipt that they can use to either sell their commodity or access credit finance from banks and other financing institutions.
“We also operate what we call a spot market trading platform that enables farmers and buyers to trade commodities. We are currently allowed to trade 49 commodities,” Tapfumaneyi said.
“The other item that ZMX looks after is the forward market; it is where farmers and buyers agree ahead of time.
“The advantage of that is that the farmer is able to get an off taker or a buyer ahead of the marketing season while a buyer is able to secure the commodity and the price.
“Forward contracts are commonly used in commodity trading as a tool for managing price risks. The advantage is that the farmer is able to get an off-taker or a buyer ahead of the marketing season while a buyer is able to secure the commodity and the price.”
The ZMX also seeks to deal with challenges encountered by farmers in the marketing of their agricultural produce, which include limited and often costly logistics, inappropriate or inadequate storage facilities.
The problems resulted in farmers incurring significant post-harvest losses. The platform, Tapfumaneyi said, would help the farmer and buyer according to their interests.
The ZMX was designed to curb warehousing and price discovery challenges relating to farm commodities, which local farmers encounter in their operations.
ZMX’s system is suitable for trading in a number of farmed commodities including strategic grains, barley, coffee, groundnuts, macadamia nuts, millet, oats, pecan nuts, rapoko, rice, sorghum, sugar beans, tea, cowpeas and round nuts.
ZMX is structured as a public-private partnership entity, with the Government holding 20% while the private sector variously holds 80%.
