ICE's direct involvement with the grading,
certification and warehousing of physical coffee is an indication of how
interconnected the futures and cash markets have become. The New York Exchange
is also directly involved in the establishment of electronic transfer of
ownership of lots of coffee through standardized electronic contracts and other
paperwork that must accompany the movement of coffee through the marketing
chain.
In 1992 the then NYBOT introduced COPS or Commodity Operations and Processing
System, a computerized commodity delivery system that addressed sampling,
quality, weighing, title transfer as well as confirming title status of
deliveries. This transformed the entire delivery process for the coffee industry
by reducing the complex, time consuming, costly and inefficient paper trail for
each delivery against a futures contract.
In 2002 work commenced to transform COPS into
eCOPS, a fully fledged electronic
platform for the full automation of coffee and cocoa deliveries to US warehouses
for the exchange. Effective with the March 2004 delivery eCOPS has now replaced
the paper delivery trail with electronic versions of warehouse receipts,
delivery orders, sampling orders, weight notes, invoices, insurance declarations
and a number of other accompanying documents.
Other areas such as bills of lading and customs entry
documentation will be added as the system grows. For more on eCOPS see also
06.01.04 or go to www.theice.com. and look for eCOPS.