Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC), a B2B e-trade platform for physical commodities, has announced its plans to groom one Global Commodity Champion from each participating country of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Since the start of the year, CIC has reported a more than a 20% increase in customers joining the platform compared to the same period last year, and a surge in online transactions with over 4,000 customers searching for trading opportunities on the platform. CIC has since achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$13.2 billion (S$17.7 billion), with over 5,200 registered users covering markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and China, among other countries in Asia. CIC looks to develop more than ten Global Commodity Champions over the next three to five years, as it strives to uncover new trading opportunities and boost global trade facilitation on the back of RCEP.
Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Commodities Intelligence Centre, shared, “The coronavirus has radically reshaped the global supply chain, exposing the fragility of the industry. We believe that CIC is well-placed to empower companies, especially SMEs, from RCEP member countries to uncover new market opportunities and identify reliable partners and suppliers, while building business resilience and extending the global reach of their supply chains during this difficult period.”
“The work that CIC has been doing for the past two years resonates strongly with the recently launched RCEP—to help participating countries establish a mutually beneficial economic partnership that will facilitate the expansion of regional trade and investment and contribute to global economic development and growth,” added Peter.
The RCEP is the world’s largest trade pact signed by 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. RCEP is comprised of 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and key partners, such as Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand—accounting for 30 percent of the world’s economy and one-third of its population. It aims to eliminate as much as 90 percent of tariffs on imports between member countries over the next 20 years and will improve market access for goods and services within the region.
CIC platform supports 10 different languages encompassing RCEP member countries and provides integrated services that help SMEs reduce transaction costs, optimize the efficiency of their supply chains across cross-border trading, financing, logistics and to be regulatory compliance. CIC also provides access to unique commodity offerings of participating RCEP countries, such as clean and renewable energy.
Recently, CIC has also successfully facilitated large-scale renewable energy transactions between customers from Australian, India, and South Korea, with the official signing set to take place during this year’s Global Digital Trade Conference 2020 and the 11th China Wuhan (Hankou North) Commodity Fair from November 28 to December 6.
