Singapore Exchange (SGX) has taken a minority stake in HaveaConnect (HC), a Singapore-founded digital marketplace for sustainable natural rubber (NR). SGX, which is investing US$1.5 million via its wholly-owned subsidiary Asian Gateway Investments, joins Halcyon Agri Corporation Limited (HAC), ITOCHU Corporation and DBS Bank as shareholders in HC.
HC is digitalising the entire NR supply chain – from farmer to the producer, from consumer to facilitator – in a data-enriched ecosystem. SGX’s investment in HC aims to bolster its capability as the price discovery platform for sustainable natural rubber. This will in turn promote best practices across the natural rubber value chain.
As part of the investment, SICOM futures prices will be made available on HC’s platform, to facilitate physical rubber spot and long-term price discovery against SICOM benchmarks.
Since its inception in April 2019, HC has matched over 250,000 tonnes of physical natural rubber for global tyre majors including Michelin and Bridgestone, with gross sales value exceeding US$325 million.