GCX signs MOU with AgFlow SA to boost West African Trade competitiveness

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Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) and AgFlow SA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to join forces to launch the Ghana Commodity Information System Project. The partnership aims at facilitating access to fundamental commodity markets information in Ghana and the sub-region (Ivory Coast, Togo, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso). By the end of 2021, GCX users and Ghanaian agricultural markets stakeholders will be able to compare the domestic prices of Corn, Sesame, Soya, Rice, Sorghum, Cashew with international prices and will have access to import volume forecasts.

The partnership between GCX and AgFlow falls in line with the Ghanaian governmental initiative for food self-sufficiency which aims at improving the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers by promoting equal access to land, technology, and markets, among other policies. It is also aligned with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-led initiative – of which Ghana is currently the Chair – to build regional food security reserves as announced at the 2021 international conference on food security storage in West Africa. Since the 2008 & 2012 rice supply crises, Ghana & ECOWAS have been constantly striving to strengthen information systems to assist in the monitoring and management of security stocks and to improve the predictability of the markets as well as gain a better understanding of the evolution of stocks at the regional level in comparison to international markets.

Standing from left to right: Bryanne Hackman (GCX, Head Strategy,Policy & Partnership), Elimane Kane – AgFlowTerritory Manager (Western Africa),-Tucci Goka Ivowi (CEO, GCX), Nabil Mseddi (CEO, AgFlow), Wendy Malm (GCX, Head Trading and Market Data).

As part of this MOU, AgFlow will give access to GCX users and Ghanaian agricultural value chain actors – including millers, producers, traders, and importers – to the following fundamental market information:

• international cash and forward prices to be compared with domestic prices to increase the competitiveness of local products
• imports volume summary for the last 24 months as well as the next 2 months to foresee stock excess or shortage in advance

As Nabil Mseddi (AgFlow CEO) says: “Agricultural commodity trading has been an opaque and inefficient market for too long. And the work of GCX, who create equal opportunities for producers, buyers, and sellers, resonates with the pressing need for more efficient Ag markets. AgFlow aims at serving the same cause by providing transparency to the small-sized stakeholders, through access to privileged, actionable key market data and information that is otherwise only accessible to the most powerful players across the value chain.”

In addition to the primary purpose of creating a platform that provides market data to the West African market, starting with commodities such as Corn, Sesame, Soya, Rice, Sorghum, with additional commodities to be included in the near future, GCX prices for Ghanaian products will be published on AgFlow’s site, and will be visible to a worldwide community of hundreds of brokers, traders, and Fast Moving Consumer Goods Companies (FMCG)’s, which will ultimately boost regional trade competitiveness.

The GCX and AgFlow partnership also envisions to positively impact smallholders farmers and other actors in the value chain with capacity building through effective sensitization on the use of data through a digital platform to increase trade efficiency.

“The GCX’s members include traders, processors, food system providers, aggregators, brokers, and farmers. A key aim of the Exchange is to provide farmers with access to critical information, which will allow them to make timely and informed decisions. A result includes them getting fair and better prices for their commodities. GCX disseminates market and price data to members daily, directly to their mobile phones. The AgFlow partnership will increase and enhance the data being shared. The benefits for all market actors are immense“. says Tucci Ivowi, CEO of GCX

About GCX (www.gcx.com.gh)

The Ghana Commodity Exchange is a regulated electronic market that links buyers and sellers of commodities to trade by rules, while assuring the market quality and quantity, timely delivery and settlement. GCX is a private company limited by shares, structured as a Public-Private Partnership, with the government of Ghana currently the sole shareholder. The exchange aims to establish linkages between agricultural and commodity producers and buyers, to secure competitive prices for their products, assuring the market quantity and quality as well as timely settlement of their trade. Our purpose is to connect markets, connect people, provide opportunities by using the most modern, interactive and appropriate technology that meets the needs of our markets and stakeholders.

GCX Contact
Bryanne Hackman, (Strategy, Policy & Partnerships Officer)
Email: contact@gcx.com.gh

About AgFlow (www.agflow.com)

Born out of the beliefs of fierce Ags proponents, AgFlow’s vision is to digitalize agricultural markets, and lead Humanity’s transition to a transparent and efficient global food supply chain. To achieve such a challenge, AgFlow initiated a collaborative data ecosystem that is powered by its many contributors, and where each contributor individually, can multiply the value of their own data using aggregation.

AgFlow was founded in 2013 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. AgFlow offers a web-based intelligence platform and API access. We empower agricultural commodities producers, buyers, sellers, risk managers, investors and movers with accurate, clean and privileged data from trusted sources and make it immediately actionable.

AgFlow Contact
Annelise Bremme, Head of Marketing
Email: annelise@agflow.com