Press release

Geneva, Switzerland – 31st of March 2025

CircleOut, the industry’s leading platform for identifying and matching circles and washouts in physical commodity trading has reached a new milestone. In the month of March, the platform successfully netted 559.000 metric tons of contracts volume by identifying circles for May–July delivery period—marking this a new record for German Lower Rhein rapeseed meal market. 

This achievement underscores the growing impact of CircleOut as a powerful efficiency driver across the Agri trading network. For May–July delivery period, platform participants have now closed on average 50.3% of their positions—demonstrating the value of early market alignment and willingness to collaborate. Key market participants have synchronically uploaded and updated contracts in Covantis CircleOut platform just before the algorithm identifies the circles and contracts to be netted. 

“The benefits compound as the market changes to the digital process of automatically identifying Circles via Covantis platform. This new record in the Lower Rhein rapeseed meal market highlights the clear efficiency gains the platform brings to trading firms.” ,said Sorin Albeanu, Head of Commercial at Covantis. ”  

With over 35 companies already part of the network and over 43 million metric tons of volume processed to date, CircleOut continues to solidify its position as the go-to platform for optimizing physical trade flows and netting positions in advance of the delivery.

About CircleOut
CircleOut is the digital platform that helps commodity traders identify circles and washouts across complex contract chains. By automatically identifying circles and netting positings, CircleOut reduces operational burden, improves capital efficiency, and unlocks collaboration across trading partners.

Press release

Geneva, Switzerland and Charleston, US, 5th of February 2025

Covantis is enhancing its value proposition with the launch of Covantis eBL powered by Secro, a solution that empowers companies to issue and exchange electronic bills of lading (eBL) alongside other electronic documents, and supports real-time collaboration between all stakeholders, connecting exporters, charterers, buyers, agents, vessel owners and banks in a secure ecosystem.

Covantis clients can now use electronic documents in the execution of contracts therefore speeding up the presentation process, reducing the risk of fraud and need of Letters of Indemnity, while improving efficiency for all parties involved in the trade.

This new documents presentation solution complements Covantis existing proposition that digitalizes the agri bulk commodities execution process by encompassing the creation, exchange, review and automated checking of shipping documents.

“As the legal framework evolved with UK law recognizing electronic documents, many Phytosanitary Certificates, Quality Certificates, and Certificates of Origin transitioned to digital formats. With many authorities now accepting electronic and digital documents for customs clearance, we partnered with Secro to introduce the Covantis eBL solution to the agri industry. We are confident that through this partnership we will once and for all make the change from paper to electronic a reality for the agri industry.

We made this choice based on Secro’s technology fit, straight forward and efficient legal approach to eBLs, speed of delivery and capacity to adapt to market needs, and also the team’s expertise. We are confident that through this partnership we will once and for all make the change from paper to electronic a reality for the Agri industry noted Petya Sechanova, CEO, Covantis SA”

“With Covantis, we have the ideal partner, sharing core values such as customer focus, a relentless drive for innovation, and deep industry expertise”, said Michele, Co-Founder and CEO of Secro Inc. “The result of our strategic alignment is a solution that delivers significant benefits to clients—enhancing operational efficiency through Covantis workflows and improving trade finance performance with Secro’s tokenized eBL. There is nothing like this in the trading and fintech space: our unique joint value proposition opens new horizons for the agri industry.”

About Covantis

Covantis is an advanced platform revolutionizing post-trade execution workflows that’s transforming how the world moves agricultural commodities. Founded by leading global trading companies in the agricultural sector, Covantis connects the industry on a single digital platform to streamline trade execution for grains, oilseeds, byproducts, sugar and vegetable oils.

The platform is used by over 55 global and regional forward-thinking agri trading firms, no matter the size – small or large. The company is trusted by players throughout the supply chain, including trading companies, exporters, FOB sellers, charterers and CFR buyers. It’s also used daily by surveyors, agents and others in the wider agri commodity ecosystem.

About Secro Inc

Secro lowers the cost and risk of commodity trading by digitizing documents of title in a compliant, robust, and user-friendly way. Exporters, importers, traders, logistics service providers, and financial institutions collaborate on Secro’s digital platform to create, manage, and exchange legally binding, globally recognized digital negotiable instruments, such as e-bills of lading.

Dozens of leading organizations across the oil and energy, agriculture, fertilizer, and chemical sectors trust Secro and its proprietary tokenization technology to eliminate trade friction, accelerate cash cycles, and enhance equity returns. Secro also offers shipowners and port agents a collaborative digital solution to streamline the documentary needs of charterers.

At Covantis, we’re excited to give a first look into an upcoming solution that’s set to advance the agri-commodity trading industry: “Covantis eBL powered by Secro.” We’re proud to announce that we have received approval from the International Group of P&I Clubs, a critical endorsement that ensures secure and compliant use in global trade.

This approval underscores the reliability of our approach to digital documentation and aligns with our vision to streamline, simplify, and secure the complex workflows of trade logistics. With “Covantis eBL powered by Secro,” we aim to redefine efficiency standards, taking another step toward a future of truly paperless trade.

Find more info: https://www.igpandi.org/article/ig-approved-electronic-bill-of-lading-systems/

What’s Ahead? This new approval from the International Group marks a foundational milestone, one that assures our clients that they can transition to electronic documentation with confidence. Designed with industry standards and global compliance at its core, this upcoming feature will support our mission to make trade faster, safer, and more reliable.

Stay tuned for more details as we prepare to launch this exciting innovation in trade documents presentation!

Press release

Geneva, Switzerland; 17th July 2024: With global traders across South American and European markets benefitting from Covantis’ contract execution efficiency gains – and the company reporting significant success for its launch of CircleOut platform in the FOB 6 Ports sunflower oil market – Covantis is today launching in the FOB Lower Rhine rapeseed meal market in Germany.

Built to help the market move away from outdated methods to execute contracts, Covantis CircleOut helps trading firms net their positions pre-execution, by automatically identifying circles and washouts. Trading firms traditionally rely on email and phone calls, which are inefficient and error-prone, often leading to circles not being identified in time. With CircleOut, trading firms can manage all their contracts in a single place, automatically identify circles via contact-matching algorithms and resolve them, including settlement calculations.

A large network of companies active in the European string markets – including AAK International, ADM, Baywa, Bunge, Cargill, Cefetra, CFP Energy, Cofco, DLA Agro, Louis Dreyfus Company, Oliva AD, C. Thywissen, Saipol, Viterra, Remia – have adopted CircleOut and are coming together to modernise the way positions are netted and circles are identified and settled.

With over 4.5 million metric tons of circles settled and 43% efficiency gains reported by 13 trading firms active in South America string markets, in May 2024 CircleOut launched in the European FOB 6 Ports market for sunflower oil. Since then, 613,000 metric tons of position volumes have already been uploaded, with over 200,000 metric tons volumes settled. 

After its expansion in the German Lower Rhine market – where the company is aiming to replicate the same level of success as the South American and FOB 6 Port markets – Covantis will also be launching CircleOut into the FOB Dutch Mills market for rapeseed oil in the coming months.

To find out more, follow Covantis on LinkedIn.

END

About Covantis

Covantis is a fair, trusted platform that improves efficiency, transparency, and information exchange for everyone feeding the world. It continues to be a leading force in the agri commodity industry, offering a reliable and secure platform for trade execution processes, document exchange, and communication among market participants.

In an era where the pace of technological innovation continues to accelerate, the global commodity trading sector stands on the brink of a transformative revolution. It’s with great excitement that we announce our upcoming webinar that promises to shed light on these advancements and the collaborative efforts reshaping our industry.

Event Details:
Date: April 16th
Time: 1:30 PM BST / 2:30 PM CEST / 9:30 AM ART

Registration: Free (Register now to secure your spot)

Why Attend?
Global commodity trade is complex, influenced by fluctuating interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and the ever-present need for efficiency and transparency. This webinar, in partnership with Commodities People, aims to navigate these challenges, highlighting the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and the power of industry collaboration.

Meet Our Speakers:

Petya Sechanova, CEO, Covantis
Guy-Laurent Arpino, Group Chief Information Officer, Louis Dreyfus Company
Stefanie Gummelt, Director Global Trade Execution, ADM
Fernanda Oliveira, Director of Execution Offshore, BTG Pactual
Ben Hillary, Managing Director, Commodities People

These industry leaders will dive into topics like global digitalization, AI-driven document management, and strategic position netting in agricultural markets. Their insights will offer a roadmap for embracing digital transformation and leveraging collaborative efforts to streamline operations and mitigate risks.

Join Us:
Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with top experts and be part of the conversation shaping the future of commodity trading. Register now for free and prepare to be inspired by the potential of AI and collaborative innovation in transforming global trade practices.

With its secure platform, Covantis is helping to reduce inefficiencies and risk in global trade, with the majority of the exports from Brazil, the US and Argentina conducted via the Covantis platform in 2023

Geneva, Switzerland; 26th of March 2024: Covantis, the platform that accelerates the transformation of global trade for everyone feeding the world, today announced its global expansion, with a new presence across European, Australian and South African grains and oilseeds and the global vegetable oils market. 

Covantis helps businesses globally to execute all of their vessels in the agriculture space in one platform. It connects all relevant parties buying and selling agricultural commodities across the supply chain in one ecosystem, and digitalises the execution process that is typically performed through email and phone. With Covantis, processes are automated and standardized and risk is reduced.

As part of its global expansion, the company is now covering the largest export markets for vegetable oils – including Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil and Soybean Oil – coming out of North America, South America, and Europe. 

Petya Sechanova, CEO of Covantis, commented: “This launch marks a pivotal moment for Covantis. Our platform transcends borders to empower agricultural trade on a global scale, helping to speed up document presentation, reduce risk of errors, and automate processes. We’ve cultivated a network of 44 agricultural groups and over 200 legal entities and now completed the expansion into the key origin markets for grains and oilseeds.”

To find out more, follow the company on LinkedIn.

END

About Covantis

Covantis is a fair, trusted platform that improves efficiency, transparency, and information exchange for everyone feeding the world. It continues to be a leading force in the agri commodity industry, offering a reliable and secure platform for trade execution processes, document exchange, and communication among market participants.

Geneva, March 5th 2024 – Covantis, the leading solution provider for contract execution processes in the Agri commodities industry, proudly announces the successful launch of its CircleOut application in Brazil Soybeans, Soybean Meal, Vegetable Oil and Argentina Vegetable Oil markets. Demonstrating remarkable efficiency and market reach, CircleOut captured over 750 contracts and identified, across both markets, close to 800,000 tonnes of circles and washouts on its first week of operation.   

A circle is formed when a seller repurchases the same goods from their subsequent buyer. Circles, also known as chains, are established to reduce trade exposure and execution complexities. It involves the process of netting by consolidating positions from multiple trading firms.

CircleOut helps trading firms to net their positions before the start of operations, automatically identifying circles and washouts based on the contract positions provided by the market.  Trade operators can now manage all their contract positions and circles, from identification to settlement, into one single application.

The application addresses longstanding industry problems such as the laborious manual process of identifying circles, the risk of exposing open positions, and inefficient use of working capital.

The Managing Director of Cefetra BV, Ted Swinkels mentioned: “We are happy to see Covantis taking this path and helping the industry solve real problems. We approached Covantis with the idea of solving the circles issue, as many were missed and the process was inefficient, and now we see they are delivering a valuable solution.”

The new application is already gathering significant industry participation. With over 25 companies signed up, we already see many leading agribusinesses active in the first week of operation including ADM, Agraria, Amaggi International, BTG Pactual Commodities, Bunge, Caramuru, Cargill, Cefetra, CHS, Coamo, COFCO, Enerfo, Louis Dreyfus Company, Marubeni, Mitsubishi Corporation, Viterra and Zen-Noh Grain Corporation. The commitment of these companies to adopt CircleOut underscores its value proposition and potential to transform trade execution processes.

In the words of Covantis’s CEO, Petya Sechanova: “The Agri industry is ready to collaborate, and by using Covantis CircleOut and automating this process, the market will identify more circles, net more positions earlier in the trade lifecycle, thus increasing efficiency, optimizing working capital and counterparty credit exposure. We are thrilled with the early success and look forward to its continued positive impact on the string markets.”

About Covantis

The Covantis product suite enables market participants to perform contract execution and exchange documents, contractual notices, and messages in an efficient, auditable, and secure way.

Press release

Geneva, Switzerland – Covantis, a leading platform in the grains and oilseeds industry, is proud to announce its outstanding performance in 2023, marking another year of significant growth and achievement. The platform’s latest market statistics for 2023 demonstrate remarkable progress and highlight its continued impact on the global agricultural trade industry.

In 2023, Covantis captured an impressive 719 million metric tons of volume executed through its platform, representing a substantial increase compared to the previous year. This signifies a year-on-year growth of 37%, showcasing the platform’s increasing relevance and influence in the market.

Notably, Covantis played a pivotal role in facilitating exports for major grains and oilseeds producing countries. In 2023, a staggering 76% of Brazil’s exports, 53% of the United States’ exports, 34% of Canada’s exports, and 51% of Argentina’s grain exports were executed through the Covantis platform, based on export data from local trade associations & agents.

In a noteworthy development, in June 2023 the sugar industry went live on the platform executing the exports of raw sugar and white bagged sugar in breakbulk out of Brazil. A network consisting of 10 trading companies have signed up throughout the year to digitalise and automate the execution of sugar contracts. 

Meanwhile, Covantis has continued to invest in platform development and new features in 2023, further enhancing efficiency and reducing risk for its clients.

On the 5,500 vessels executed on the platform, an impressive 200,000 messages and documents were exchanged, marking an uplift of 80% compared to the previous year. The platform’s document capabilities also saw strong adoption in 2023, with a 300% growth. More than 4,000 documentary instructions were exchanged and equally extensive amount of document reviews and approvals were completed, highlighting the industry’s objective to digitalise documents processes. 

Furthermore, Covantis witnessed substantial growth in its active participants, with the number of legal entities and teams engaged in the platform increasing from 130 to 180. This diverse group of entities and teams now has a global presence, reinforcing Covantis’ commitment to support trading companies worldwide to modernise their trade execution processes and work more efficiently.

“Becoming a truly global platform for post-trade processes requires more than just technology – it demands a strategic vision and hard work to transform the challenges into opportunities. Covantis platform isn’t just a solution; it’s a gateway to a collaborative future, connecting participants, driving efficiencies, speeding up the processes, thus paving a way for further digital innovation opportunities. We set a target to become a global platform for post-trade processes of agricultural commodities in 5 years since our launch. I am very pleased to see the remarkable growth we achieved in 2023 and excited about the new commodity and market expansions as well as new product capabilities we will be releasing in 2024.” said Petya Sechanova, Covantis CEO

For more information or media inquiries, please contact Covantis at: info@covantis.io 

Covantis continues to be a leading force in the agri market, offering a reliable and secure platform for trade execution processes, document exchange, and communication among market participants. The platform’s impressive growth in 2023 reflects its unwavering commitment to shaping the future of agricultural trade.

Are you ready to learn how digitalisation will impact your business? Join us at the European Commodity Exchange in Warsaw on the 12th and 13th of October!

We invite you to discuss with us about:
– Digitalization of trade execution globally
– Transition into electronic documents
– Future of AI in trade execution processes

Join us at stand 3.34 in hall 3 and let’s exchange ideas and explore opportunities.