SINGAPORE, Jun 17, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Singapore-based Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) has signed an investment agreement with Chongqing Liangjiang New District Management Committee. The agreement will see an investment commitment of RMB 10 million (S$2.07 million) by CIC to establish its overseas digital trade platform in China's Guoyuan Port in Chongqing Municipality. The agreement was formally inked by Mr Luo Lin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area and Mr Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of CIC, at the "Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Key Technology Innovation Projects Virtual Signing Ceremony". CIC's parent company, ZALL Smart Commerce Group (2098.HK), also announced its plans to invest in Guoyuan Port for their projects in West China.

The project is expected to contribute towards the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative, and will be able to tap on CIC platform capabilities in Singapore to enable data interconnection and interoperability and grow a vibrant commodity trading ecosystem in Guoyuan Port. The move comes as CIC is stepping up efforts to expand its global supply chain network and provide companies with increased access to market opportunities in China and Southeast Asia, helping them uncover new business opportunities, reduce transaction costs and achieve greater trading synergies globally amid the pandemic.

Mr Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of CIC, shared, "The need to strengthen the digital connectivity of the world's supply chain ecosystem is more important than ever today. CIC is proud to have inked this strategic agreement to establish our overseas digital trade platform in Chongqing, an important region that connects the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Belt and Road route. This investment affirms our continued commitment to expand our technology-enabled global B2B trading ecosystem that would enable businesses to reap the benefits of the global digital trade economy on the back of the world's largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and China's dual circulation strategy, with greater digital trade connectivity between China and ASEAN."

Leveraging the strategic connectivity advantages of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Multimodal Transportation Demonstration Base, the new International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) and other international trade channels of the Chongqing Guoyuan Port National Logistics Hub, CIC's digital trade platform would provide global trading services, such as transaction matching, customs declaration and clearance, supply chain logistics, trade finance, and global trade compliance to facilitate the development of an international commodities trading cluster in Guoyuan Port. The platform could also help accelerate the opening up of China's inland economy and drive global commodity trading and investments into Chongqing, thereby bringing about deeper economic integration with China's Belt and Road Initiative and the country's western provinces and regions.

Located in the core part of Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area, Guoyuan Port is a logistics hub integrating "water, rail, and road transport" of China's inland rivers, and is the only port-type national logistics hub in west China. CIC's project signing comes amid deeper Sino-Singapore cooperation under the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative, and increased investments by Singapore enterprises into Chongqing in sectors such as aviation, financial services, logistics and information and communication technology.


About Commodities Intelligence Centre

The Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) is a global trading platform for physical commodities including Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals, Chemicals & Plastics, Oil & Petroleum, and Agri Commodities. Officially launched in Singapore on 12 Oct 2018, CIC is a Joint Venture between China-based ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) to build trade connectivity through digital marketplaces and to grow a vibrant trading ecosystem in Singapore.

CIC aims to revolutionize commodity trading and facilitate cross-border trade through deal matching, trade finance, supply chain logistics, track and trace and global trade compliance. Since its establishment in October 2018, CIC has achieved a GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of more than US$13.4 billion (S$17.6 billion), with over 5,800 registered users covering markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, among other countries in Asia. For more information, please visit www.cic-tp.com

For media enquiries, please contact
Email: CIC@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

SINGAPORE, Apr 16, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Singapore-based Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) – a Joint Venture between the ZALL Smart Commerce Group (ZALL), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Global eTrade Services (GeTS) – has announced strong growth in FY2020, driven by the urgency for supply chains to digitalise during the pandemic. In 2020, the number of customers on the platform grew by 26 per cent as compared to 2019 to reach 5800 registered users. Among the commodities traded on the platform include ferrous and non-ferrous metals, agricultural products, plastics and chemicals, and oil products. The total cumulative gross merchandise volume (GMV) on the CIC platform grew by over US$3.1 billion (S$4.1 billion) to reach US$13.4 billion (S$17.6 billion), an increase of more than 30 per cent from 2019.

Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of CIC shared, "By making our platform and technologies affordable and easy to use, SMEs are able to easily onboard the platform and make use of these digital tools to grow their businesses. With global disruptions such as COVID-19 and the recent Suez Canal incident, we want to help SMEs build more sustainable and resilient businesses that can endure these challenging times as they grow and expand in Asia and to achieve greater trading synergies globally."

According to the UOB SME Outlook Survey 2021, 34 percent of SMEs find digital adoption costly to implement, and yet companies who have digitally transformed one or more departments, or their entire business, have seen a significantly higher revenue growth. One of the Singapore SMEs who have benefited from CIC's platform is Go Holdings, a cullet supplier in Southeast Asia. Tapping on CIC's business intelligence service DataPro, it has been able to access a wide database of over 2 billion records of customs and trade data from more than 110 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas. This has allowed them to uncover new markets and diversify their trading operations, and connect with reliable partners and suppliers that align with their business goals. Alongside this, CIC also recently introduced a convenient Know-Your-Customer (KYC) service that helps SMEs with their due diligence to better manage their business risks.

Huang Zhi Rong, Business Development Executive of Go Holdings, shared, "As a general trading company from a traditionally offline industry, the thought of digitalization can be daunting and challenging as this is often costly and resource intensive, and it takes up time and effort. However, digital platforms such as CIC, has allowed us to gain a competitive edge in the market, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, by providing us with valuable market insights to guide our decision making and has enabled us to tap on the right information sources to strategize our business plans that has brought about profound changes to our import and export trade businesses." Go Holdings is currently a subscriber of CIC's DataPro services.

Over the past year, CIC has embarked on numerous initiatives to support SMEs in their digital transformation journey. In May 2020, CIC worked with Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to support SMEs under the "Rising in Support of Enterprises (RISE)" programme during the height of the pandemic. In December 2020, it has also jointly launched a "Digital Silk Road" initiative led by ZALL, and joined Singapore's Blockchain for Trade & Connectivity (BTC) Network, which aims to help SMEs embrace the power of digitalisation to uncover new trading opportunities and to promote greater efficiency and transparency across global supply chains.

With sustainability becoming increasingly important for companies, CIC is also focusing more efforts to support commodity trading that contributes towards climate change and environmental sustainability, such as clean and renewable energy, as it aims to groom more than ten Global Commodity Champions over the next three to five years on the back of the world's largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and China's dual circulation strategy.

"At Go Holdings, we have also focused on environmental sustainability. Although it has not been an easy journey for us, we have taken steps to become a sustainable company, from our selection of partners and vendors that share our common values, to our internal processes that promotes the use of sustainable materials and a culture of Reuse, Reduce and Recycle among our employees", added Huang Zhirong of Go Holdings.


About Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC)

The Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) is a global trading platform for physical commodities including Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals, Chemicals & Plastics, Oil & Petroleum, and Agri Commodities. Officially launched in Singapore on 12 Oct 2018, CIC is a Joint Venture between China-based ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) to build trade connectivity through digital marketplaces and to grow a vibrant trading ecosystem in Singapore.

CIC aims to revolutionize commodity trading and facilitate cross-border trade through deal matching, trade finance, supply chain logistics, track and trace and global trade compliance. Since its establishment in October 2018, CIC has achieved a GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of more than US$13.4 billion (S$17.6 billion), with over 5,800 registered users covering markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, among other countries in Asia. For more information, please visit www.cic-tp.com.

For media queries
Email: CIC@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com