C. Harry Falk, NYBOT President and CEO, said: “It’s our honor to welcome the orange juice industry into the eCOPS fold. FCOJ now joins coffee and cocoa as deliverable on eCOPS, our exclusive electronic commodity operations processing system. eCOPS is revolutionizing the way commodities are shipped and tracked, and the orange juice industry will be able to benefit from the service advantages and cost savings this new technology offers.”
NYBOT has begun the process of converting each paper shipping certificate for FCOJ-A, and FCOJ-B to an eCOPS Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR). For the September FCOJ delivery on the Exchange, all deliveries and request for registration will be accomplished using the electronic documents. Paper shipping certificates will no longer be valid for Exchange delivery commencing with the September 2006 contract. All current holders of paper shipping certificates for Exchange FCOJ should contact the Warehouse Facility operator to convert the paper receipts into the EWR format free of eCOPS charges by the close of August 31, 2006.
The eCOPS registration process is simple, free and provides full access to the many capabilities and features of the system. Users of eCOPS only pay a small charge for documents created by the web- based platform. Warehousemen, FCMs and FCOJ dealers have participated in training sessions.
New eCOPS users must fill out an eCOPS application and sign a User Agreement. To receive an application and user agreement, please contact Marie Stendardo on 212-201-8895 or go to www.eCOPSLLC.com to download the necessary agreements. For help with eCOPS questions, contact support@ecopsLLC.com.
For more than ten years, NYBOT’s Commodity Operations Processing System (or COPS®) managed coffee and cocoa deliveries for the Exchange. Both the cocoa and the coffee industries represent logistically complex and far-reaching supply chains that require significant numbers of manually processed document presentations. The World Trade Organization (WTO) estimates the overall cost of documentation for all international trade to be $420 billion or seven percent of total trade costs.
While eCOPS, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NYBOT, eCOPS users are not obligated in any way to participate in futures markets to receive the benefits of eCOPS electronic document management. The eCOPS handles electronic versions of warehouse receipts, delivery orders, sampling orders, weight notes, and invoices. Other electronic documentation capabilities including a bill of lading are being developed.
The NYBOT transferred coffee delivery to eCOPS in 2004 and cocoa delivery in 2005. In 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated eCOPS as the first official “Provider” of Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWR) for coffee under the United States Warehouse Act.
NYBOT’s FCOJ contract has a trading unit of 15,000 pounds of orange solids, and trades from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm (NY Time).
The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) is New York’s original futures exchange, where the world trades food, fiber and financial products. For well over a century, the New York Board of Trade has provided reliability, integrity and security in a global marketplace for cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp and sugar, as well as currency and index futures and options. Information about the New York Board of Trade can be found at www.nybot.com and www.nybotlive.com. To learn more about New York Board of Trade Futures & Options for Kids, the Exchange’s non-profit group, please go to www.futuresandoptionsforkids.org.
