The latest commodity market to rally its biggest competitors into a consolidated online exchange is the dairy business.
Momentex Inc. late last month formally launched Dairy.com, an independent e-marketplace whose 34 member companies include such names as Kraft Foods Holdings Inc., Land OLakes Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc. and The Dannon Co. Inc.
The exchange enables traders with Internet access to identify individual loads of milk, cream and condensed skim for sale and then establish spot or long-term contracts. A pilot test netted $25 million in trading.
At the same time, Dallas-based Dairy.com announced a suite of software tools that helps dairy farmers track their herds as well as interact with other farmers, suppliers and co-ops on the Web. These tools—which include DairySuite Herd Manager, Cowside Profit Maximizer, Co-op Member Services, Information Tools and Rural Community—will be available next month.