File photo of date experts from the UAE looking at baskets of Kholas dates during the sthe Liwa Date Festival, in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. (Reuters)
Agthia Group, a leading regional food and beverages company, announced on Monday the launch of eZad, an innovative, convenient and efficient business to business eAuction platform, where buyers from across the globe can buy dates in bulk from sellers in the UAE.
The platform eZad makes buying and selling of dates faster, more transparent and profitable for all stakeholders, reported Emirates News Agency (WAM).
Alan Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Agthia Group, said, “The eZad platform has been created to bring transparency, convenience and standardization to the dates industry, through the technology and services we provide.”
“Our goal is to link small and big farmers directly to bulk date buyers via a single, simple and innovative platform. By creating this direct link, previously hidden margins, as well as travel expenses, would be eliminated thereby offering a cost-effective solution to buyers,” he said.
The UAE is the sixth largest producer of dates, and with more than 100 different varieties of date palms that are grown makes dates an important part of UAE economy, according to the website Date Palm Dubai.
In the first phase, eZad will source dates from farmers in the UAE and begin listing from the start of the harvest season in August. Subsequently, eZad’s scope will be gradually expanded to other countries.
Farmers will list their dates for auction in eZad through a trustworthy certification system that grades dates under reliable market standards, supported by a quality guarantee built on the extensive experience and reputation inherited from Al Foah.
The auction listing will be made available on eZad to buyers around the world for 48 hours. Buyers will be able to search and filter the listings based on preferences such as price, date type, quantity, and quality.
Buyers can collect the dates purchased from one of eZad’s warehouses or select from any of the value-added services on offer, including storage, packaging, loading, fumigation, washing, and delivering the dates to worldwide locations.