JP2002032599A - System and method for commodity forward delivery transaction using computer network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method for commodity forward delivery transaction corresponding to the varying risk of a quality specific to vegetables, fruits, etc., by taking the advantage of a forward transaction system to lower a credit risk and a commodity supply risk on byying and selling. SOLUTION: A vegetables/fruits forward delivery transaction site 1 is a commodity forward trading market provided and managed/operated on the Internet by a site managing company. This site is connected with the computer of a supplier 2 and that of a buyer 3 through the Internet. Both of the supplier 2 and the buyer 3 become the members of this network system by paying deposited money to the site operating company. In order to ensure the quality of the merchandise to be supplied by the supplier 2, the quality of the commodities is inspected by an inspection company 4. A sales contract between the supplier 2 and the buyer 3 is managed by a contract managing company 5. The settlement and the credit facility management of the price of a delivered commodity are performed by a card company. The commodity is delivered at the cargo collecting place of the supplier.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commodity forward transaction system utilizing a computer network and a method for conducting transactions in this system. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for forward-trading commodities of primary commodities that can undergo qualitative fluctuations due to the influence of external environments such as weather and locality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When trading primary products such as agricultural products, the typical ones conventionally performed are (1) spot transactions,
(2) Transaction based on forward contract (forward transaction), and (3)
It is a futures contract.

[0003] In a spot transaction, goods are actually delivered in a spot market such as a wholesale market, and the ownership of the goods is usually transferred from a seller to a buyer. A forward transaction is a transaction in which goods are bought and sold at a certain time in the future at a price determined in advance between the seller and the buyer. A futures transaction is a transaction in which the seller and the buyer promise to deliver a certain product at a certain price in the future at the current price. Forward transactions are similar to futures transactions in that there is a period between the time a contract is concluded and the time of fulfillment.

[0004] The two types of transactions, futures and forwards, are very similar, but have significant institutional differences. In contrast to forward transactions, futures transactions also have various institutional systems that do not exist in relative forward transactions so that transactions can be performed safely and efficiently. There is a commodity exchange as this organizational system.

The institutional differences between futures and forward transactions are described below.

[0006] Concerning the transaction form, the forward transaction is a bilateral transaction and is determined by mutual agreement between the seller and the buyer, whereas the futures transaction is a collective transaction in which an exchange (or clearing house) intervenes. , Guaranteeing the performance of the contract. In addition, for the target products, forward transactions are bilateral transactions and are determined by mutual agreement between sellers and buyers, while futures transactions are
Quality, standards and ratings are standardized. Regarding the settlement method, forward transactions are delivery transactions based on promises, while futures transactions are net settlements by counter-trading,
The contract can be easily terminated. In addition, with respect to guarantees on transactions, forward transactions are based on the credit of the counterparty, while futures transactions are based on margin deposits and revaluation by mark-to-market.

[0007] The spot transaction has a disadvantage that the risk of price fluctuation is high due to imbalance between supply and demand due to the effects of weather fluctuations and the like. In addition, forward contracts reduce the risk of price fluctuations because the terms and conditions of the parties can be freely set between the parties.However, as a flip-side, in terms of trades, how easy it is to buy and sell in the market Has the disadvantage of low fluidity. As described above, futures transactions are conducted through exchanges with products standardized by quality, standards, ratings, etc., and therefore have high liquidity in transactions. In short, as the transition to cash, forward and futures trading increases the liquidity of the transaction, the system becomes easier to carry out large-scale transactions, but on the other hand, the standardization of products to be traded, that is, the unification of quality standards And standardization will be required more.

[0008]

[0005] The forward transaction has a lower price fluctuation risk than the spot transaction, but has a lower liquidity in the transaction than the future transaction, and is not actually performed much. As for the trading of agricultural products, futures trading of grains such as soybeans and corn is conducted through the Tokyo Grain Exchange. However, among the so-called primary products such as agricultural products and marine products, the quality of fruits and vegetables, meat, fresh fish, etc. is difficult due to the external environment such as the weather and the production area, so quality control is difficult, and the quality is unified and standardized. However, the quality of each product is uneven and unique, but these products are conventionally physically traded mainly through wholesale markets. This is because the quality of fruits and vegetables and the like must be actually collected and purchased while visually checking the quality. That is, fruits and vegetables and the like have an inherent quality fluctuation risk. Thus, fruits and vegetables are not traded at all in the futures or forward markets. However, as described above, in spot trading, there is a risk of price fluctuation due to imbalance between supply and demand.

[0009] Some producers and consumers trade fruits and vegetables personally via a computer network such as the Internet, but as described above, the market is low in liquidity and the credit risk is high. Some farmers, agricultural product buyers, local wholesale markets, agricultural material manufacturers, etc. have established sites that can be accessed via the Internet, but they only provide a place for information exchange and provide a place for trading. It is not what you are doing.

[0010] In order to carry out large-scale transactions by a large number of market participants smoothly in the distribution of fruits and vegetables, it is desirable to apply a futures trading system performed on a grain exchange.
The quality of fruits and vegetables is not uniform and is not suitable as a target product for futures trading.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a forward-trading system and a commodity system that take advantage of the futures trading system, reduce the credit risk at the time of trading, and reduce the risk of commodity supply, and cope with the quality fluctuation risk inherent in fruits and vegetables. It provides a method.

[0012]

According to the present invention, in a commodity forward transaction system using a computer network, a commodity forward transaction market site provided on the computer network and a seller computer supplying the commodity. And the buyer's computer to buy the goods,
Comprising, the seller's computer and the buyer's computer are connected to the site via a computer network, and the seller's computer accesses the site to deliver and receive goods, delivery date,
Amount of supply, offer conditions such as offer price are transmitted to the site, the site displays the offer conditions on a screen, and the buyer's computer accesses the site and accepts the offer conditions, The order items (received goods, received date, quantity, price, etc.) are transmitted to the site, and the site receives an order from the buyer's computer, determines the conclusion of a contract, and determines the seller's computer and the buyer's computer. , A commodity forward transaction system for notifying the contract establishment is provided.

[0013] The product may be a primary product whose quality may fluctuate due to the influence of the external environment such as the weather and the place of production, for example, fruits and vegetables, meat, fresh fish, etc. Quality may be inspected.

[0014] The settlement between the seller and the buyer may be performed through a person who operates the site. Further, the contract between the seller and the buyer may be managed by a person who operates the site.

[0015] The seller and the buyer may pay a deposit to a person who operates the site.
Further, the offer condition displayed on the site screen may be set such that the offer price is reduced every two days before the delivery date every predetermined time.

Further, according to the present invention, in a commodity forward transaction method using a computer network, a commodity forward transaction market site is provided on the computer network, and a seller supplying the commodity is connected to the network. By accessing the site using his / her own computer, the delivered goods, delivery date, available supply amount,
An offer condition such as an offer price is transmitted to the site, the site displays the offer condition on a screen, and a buyer who purchases a product accesses the site and accepts the offer condition. Receiving goods,
Receiving date, quantity, price, etc.) to the site, and the site receives the order from the buyer's computer, determines the conclusion of the contract, and notifies the seller's computer and the buyer's computer of the conclusion of the contract. A commodity forward transaction method is provided.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the above-mentioned commodity forward transaction system and method, the commodity is a mini tomato, a strawberry or a lettuce,
Open field vegetables such as cabbage and Chinese cabbage may be used.
The person who operates and manages the site, quality inspection of the product,
Contract management and settlement / credit management may be outsourced to an external inspection company, contract management company and card company, respectively. In addition, if the site operator manages the site, the supplier is entitled to producer insurance and the supply becomes unavailable due to abnormal weather (hail, extremely low temperature such as abnormally low temperature, etc.) or disaster (wind damage). Insurance claims may be made according to the degree of the damage. Furthermore, when the settlement is not entrusted to a card company, credit insurance may be provided.

[0018]

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a commodity forward transaction system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a vegetable forward transaction site 1 is a commodity forward transaction market provided and managed and operated on the Internet by a site operating company. This site uses a server that is lent by an application service provider (ASP) as hardware and that is built using software that the inventor has independently developed with reference to the system adopted by the Tokyo Grain Exchange. ing. A buyer's computer and a seller's computer are connected to the site via the Internet. The seller is agricultural product supplier 2,
Unit agricultural cooperatives, economic associations and large-scale full-time farmers. The buyer is the agricultural product buyer 3, and is a supermarket chain, a restaurant chain, a food processing company, a fruit and vegetables wholesaler, and the like. Both suppliers and buyers pay the deposit to the site operator and become members of this network system.

In order to guarantee the quality of the fruits and vegetables supplied by the supplier 2, a quality inspection of the fruits and vegetables is performed. This inspection is performed by the inspection company 4 entrusted with the inspection work from the site operating company. In addition, a sales contract between the supplier 2 and the buyer 3 is managed. The contract management is performed by the contract management company 5 entrusted with the contract management business from the site operating company. Payment for the delivered fruits and vegetables and credit management are performed. This settlement and credit management is performed by the card company 6 entrusted with settlement and credit management from the site operating company.

As described above, the commodity forward transaction market is operated based on the Internet website. Therefore, the participants of this transaction, ie, buyer 3 and supplier 2, can access this site through their own personal computers (PCs) and participate in the transaction. The products to be traded are open-air vegetables such as mini tomatoes, strawberries or lettuce, cabbage, and Chinese cabbage. For example, the quality standard of mini tomatoes is that the size: any of 2L, L, M, S, B,
Density: 8 or more, Color: Discolored to red (check by visual inspection), etc. The goods are to be delivered at a pickup place where the suppliers collect the goods.
The quality inspection of the product is performed by a sampling inspection by the inspection company 4 at the time of delivery.

The minimum unit of transaction is 10 for mini tomatoes.
There are 0 cases (about 140,000 yen on a money basis). As for the settlement method, as described above, via the card company 6,
If the site operating company does not take credit to the buyer 3, payment to the supplier 2 and billing of the buyer 3 are performed at the end of each month by the card company 6, and are performed at the end of the following month.

Next, a description will be given of a transaction procedure using the commodity forward transaction system of the present invention.

The supplier 2 accesses the web site screen of the Internet by using his / her PC. Then, on the site screen, the delivery product (for example, mini tomato), the supplyable quantity (for example, 1000 cases), the delivery date (for example, June 20, July 1, July 10,
..), Offer price (for example, 140,000 yen per case), quality standard (for example, size M; sugar content of 8 or more; discolored to red) and the like are input. The entered conditions can be withdrawn if the contract is not concluded.

The buyer 3 accesses the web site screen of the Internet using his / her PC. The buyer looks at the offer conditions on the site screen, selects an appropriate delivery date, and enters an amount by inputting the order, and the order is displayed on the site screen. Once an order has been entered,
It cannot be withdrawn without agreement with the supplier.

From two days before the date of delivery, the price is reduced every time a fixed time elapses. When the buyer accesses the website and makes a purchase application, the contract is concluded and displayed on the screen. After the contract is concluded, both the supplier and the buyer are notified of the contract. The contract notification method is performed by sending an e-mail and an order form. Once a contract has been concluded, the contract cannot be withdrawn unless an agreement is reached between the supplier and the buyer. The supplier delivers the goods to the buyer at the supplier's pickup location according to the contract, and the buyer picks up the goods.
The site operating company dispatches an inspection company at the time of product delivery to check whether the quality of the product matches the offer condition. The inspection company inspects the quality of the product by performing a sampling inspection of the product.

If there is a difference in the guaranteed quality as a result of the quality inspection, the deposit deposited by the supplier is
Pay the buyer as a penalty. (The payment amount is determined separately.) Payment from the buyer to the supplier and billing from the supplier to the buyer are made via the card company. The card company pays the supplier at the end of each month and bills the buyer at the end of the following month.

[0027]

According to the present invention, since the site of the commodity forward trading market accessible from buyers and sellers via the computer network is provided, the market is not traded on the conventional futures trading market for fruits and vegetables. Products that are only handled in the physical market without the risk of price fluctuations. Transactions can be made as a target of forward goods.

In particular, when the goods are delivered, the quality of the goods is inspected, so that the liquidity in the market is increased and the risk of quality fluctuation is reduced. In addition, the settlement and contract management between the seller and the buyer are performed by a person who operates the site, and furthermore, the seller and the buyer pay a deposit to the person who operates the site. Can be reduced. In addition, the offer condition displayed on the site screen is set such that the offer price is reduced every two seconds before the delivery date, and the transaction is activated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a commodity forward transaction system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fruit and Vegetables Forward Trading Site 2 Agricultural Products Suppliers 3 Agricultural Products Buyers 4 Inspection Companies 5 Contract Management Companies 6 Card Companies

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A commodity forward transaction system using a computer network, comprising: a commodity forward transaction market site provided on the computer network; a seller computer supplying the commodity; and a buyer computer purchasing the commodity. The seller's computer and the buyer's computer are connected to the site via a computer network, and the seller's computer accesses the site and delivers the goods to be delivered, the delivery date, the suppliable amount, Sending offer conditions such as offer price to the site, the site displaying the offer conditions on a screen, the buyer's computer accessing the site to accept the offer conditions, Product, date of receipt, quantity, price, etc.) And sends it to the serial site, the site is, commodity forward contracts system in which the receiving an order from the buyer of the computer to determine the contract established, to notify the contract established in the seller of the computer and the buyer of the computer. 2. The commodity forward transaction system according to claim 1, wherein the commodity is a primary commodity whose quality may change due to the influence of an external environment such as weather and a production center. 3. The commodity forward transaction system according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the commodity is inspected when the commodity is delivered. 4. The commodity forward transaction system according to claim 1, wherein the settlement between the seller and the buyer is performed through a person who operates the site. . 5. The commodity forward transaction system according to claim 1, wherein a contract between the seller and the buyer is managed by a person who operates the site. 6. The seller and the buyer pay a deposit to a person who operates the site.
6. The commodity forward transaction system according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The offer condition displayed on the site screen is set so that the offer price will be defeated every predetermined time from two days before the delivery date. A commodity forward transaction system according to claim 1. 8. A commodity forward transaction method using a computer network, wherein a commodity forward transaction market site is provided on the computer network, and a seller that supplies commodities can use its own computer connected to the network. Access the site, send offer conditions such as delivery goods, delivery date, suppliable amount, offer price, etc., to the site, the site displays the offer conditions on a screen, When accessing the site and accepting the offer conditions, send the order items (received goods, receiving date, quantity, price, etc.) to the site, and the site receives an order from the buyer's computer and contracts. Decision is made and the contract is made with the seller's computer and the buyer's computer. Commodity forward contracts way to notify.