Today enterprise blockchain Covantis said it has expanded its participants to 18 firms. The agribusiness consortium was unveiled in late 2018 by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, with COFCO and Glencore (now Viterra) joining later.
In February, the blockchain went live with an initial use case for bulk corn and soybean exports from Brazil. By enabling shippers, traders and charters to collaborate, the aim is to optimize post-trade execution.
With the latest member additions, most exported bulk cargoes of corn and soybeans will be executed on a single platform. The Covantis network now has over 500 users and 50 legal entities globally.
New Covantis members include ALZ, Amaggi, CHS, Coamo, C&D, Enerfo, Gavilon, Marubeni, Nova Agri, Olam International and Zen-Noh Grain. One of the new members Olam, already has a bit of blockchain experience. Its Australian subsidiary Olam Orchards completed a trade finance trial back in 2018. More recently, it worked with HSBC and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to issue a S$400 million ($301m) bond using blockchain.
Covantis’ long-term goal is to digitize the execution process for international agri bulk commodities, from contract management to vessel finalization. Initial targets are improving transaction speeds by up to 70%, cutting error rates by 80%, and reducing rekeying data by 90%.
Covantis uses the enterprise Ethereum blockchain Quorum with consultancy provided by ConsenSys and Cognizant.
