USDA brews a plan for electronic receipts for coffee trades

The Agriculture Department has OK’ed the use of electronic warehouse receipts for the handling of coffee trades. James Little, Farm Service Agency administrator, today announced the use of the Electronic Commodity Operations and Processing System, or eCOPS. The coffee industry will join the cotton and peanut industries as the third commodity food item to use an electronic warehouse receipt system. The warehouse receipts are title documents that are used for transfer and marketing of agricultural products. Agriculture’s approval authorizes the New York Board of Trade, which owns eCOPS, to operate an electronic warehouse receipts system for coffee warehouses, financial institutions and coffee futures traders.The electronic receipts allow for the almost instantaneous transfer of documents. Over the past year, the Farm Service Agency and New York Board of Trade have worked closely to develop and test eCOPS, Little said yesterday.“The software system will increase the ease and speed of transactions, benefiting producers, bankers and lenders, commodity warehouses and anyone involved in coffee trades,” he said.