The national platform for grain ownership, ESC, has appointed a new Non-Executive director and eliminates costs for system users.

ESC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. John Gordon as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.  Mr. Gordon has been involved in the agri business sector since 1956 when he joined H Lewis & Co Grain Merchants and Millers as a trainee manager. During his career with the Premier Group and Tiger Oats (now Tiger Brands); he held senior executive positions in the cotton ginning, oil expressing, pet food, & shipping& trading divisions. In 1993 he became Managing Director of Andre Genfood International Commodities, his tenure ending in his retirement in 2001.

Mr. Gordon has played a prominent role in the process of deregulation of the agri industry and has represented the "traders & shippers" on numerous committees and industry forums and has served on the National Agricultural Marketing Council and The Maize Trust.  He is currently Chairman of the S.A Cereal and Oilseed Trade Association (established in 1930) and a Trustee of The Sorghum Trust and The Oilseed and Protein Trust.

ESC is also pleased to announce the elimination of all transaction costs for use of the system by participants - thus enabling access without restriction to all industry users at no cost. This change is the initiative of key silo operators and goes a long way toward providing all owners of silo certificates with a single, absolutely confidential and readily accessible platform for the management of their electronic silo certificates. ESC executive Kevin Potter says "This far reaching change will massively benefit all the various participants in the grain value chain and is made possible by the revenue stream focusing on benefits provided to silo operators and their clients, without focusing on the prior trading aspect of electronic silo certificates."

As most industry participants are aware, the JSE Company Secretariat circulated Notice A655A earlier this year announcing that all system changes required to facilitate the delivery of electronic silo certificates are now complete. The JSE therefore now actively accepts and delivers electronic silo certificates in completion of futures contracts to all participants of the ESC system.

For more information about the ESC registration process, please refer to the Contact Us page for more details.