Introduction The establishment of a Biomass Trading Floor is considered an essential for opening domestic and international trade channels. Biomass is considered to be: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Green Waste Forestry Waste Recycled Waste Specialist Waste The components of a Biomass Trading Floor are based on supply and demand and advertising the fact that product is in the market. Suppliers are sub-categorised as being: Raw supply market – bundled but unprocessed, Processed product Buyers are categorised as Government or private enterprise, with no differential on pricing. Warranties The Trading Floor makes no warranty on the quality, consistency or final standing of product negotiated through the trading floor. All Buyers are to complete their own Due Diligence. Standard Sales All Buyers to be registered must complete a credit worthiness protocol as well as meet the fair financial requirements of the Seller. Recipient Sale A recipient sale is where the supplier pays the receiver to take the product, for example in the case of MSW. Where product is offered to the market in this manner, the seller must provide confirmation of relevant payment terms to the satisfaction of the recipient. Pricing All pricing as quoted by the trading floor are quoted FOB. Trading Floor Commissions A Sellers premium of 2.5%, including taxes, will apply to all term sales, payable by the Seller on invoice from the Trading Floor within seven days of contract close date. A Sellers premium of 3%, including taxes, will apply to all spot sales, payable by the Seller on invoice from the Trading Floor within seven days of contract close date. A Buyers premium of 2.5%, including taxes, will apply to all term sales, payable by the Buyer on invoice from the Trading Floor within seven days of contract close date. A Buyers premium of 2.5%, including taxes, will apply to all spot sales, payable by the Buyer on invoice from the Trading Floor within seven days of the contract close date. The premium is based on the full shipment value, and excludes freight and port charges. These terms may be negotiated at the sole discretion of the Trading Floor and any default by either the Seller or the Buyer may result in the contract being cancelled and the defaulter account suspended until such time that a remedy is found. Registration All Registrations can be made on line. The Trading Floor reserves the right to review all information supplied and requested from and by the Applicants at its sole discretion. The Trading Floor may request further information. The Trading Floor reserves the right to decline an Application at its sole discretion and will not enter into correspondence. Successful Applicants will be notified by email. Annual Registration Fee Southern Biomass Trading Floor reserves the right to charge a registration fee and may vary the Fee from time to time at its sole discretion. Buyers – Registration FREE Sellers – Annual Registration Fee AUD895.00 applies unless otherwise advised by the Trading Floor. Full – Annual Registration Fee of AUD995.00 applies, unless otherwise advised by the Trading Floor. Associate – Annual Registration Fee AUD495.00 applies, unless otherwise advised by the Trading Floor. Annual Registration Fees thereafter become payable on the 1st of July. Fees are current as at Jan 2006 and may be subject to change without notice. Consideration Note: All Applications and Forms are available online and can be completed electronically. The Trading Floor will only fully accept an Application for Registration once The Trading Floor has received Application hard copies, support information as required and Registration Fee. Applications that are declined will receive a refund, less administration costs of no more than 30% of the total Registration Fee. The Trading Floor Process Once the Registration process has been completed, buyers and sellers are invited to register their interest on the on-line trading floor system. Buyers and Sellers are reminded at the time of downloading that the information that they are supplying is true and correct for the purposes of presenting to other parties. The Trading Floor will then reference Buyers and Sellers and begin trade negotiations. Product Pricing All prices quoted are Free on Board prices. All product is presented for sale on a best price scale, whereby the Seller lists the price they want per tonne of product. Sellers will have access to current product pricing to determine list prices. Should the price be out of line with same or similar product available through the Trading Floor, the Trading Floor will advise the Seller accordingly. It is the Sellers decision to accept or decline any offers made by buyers. Sales Process Sellers will lodge their own product offerings through the on-line system. Before listing is accepted the Trading Floor will electronically confirm the relevant details with the Seller before presenting the product offering to the market. The Trading Floor will then open the product offering to the Buyer market and where applicable will take bids on listed stock. Buyers using the on-line system will flag product of interest and the Trading Floor will connect the Buyer to the Seller through the on-line system. All transactional discussions are monitored for reporting purposes. Note: Should trade negotiations occur outside of the Trading Floor system they will be considered an integral part of the Trading Floors business biomass trading and the Trading Floor reserves the right to issue an invoice for services should any transaction be closed between Sellers & Buyers or their nominated agents. Buyer may lodge a standing order with the Trading Floor to Flag any product that they have an interest in pursuing. The Trading Floor will biomass trading undertake to the Buyers that product of interest will be electronically flagged priority for their review. It is then upto the Buyer to biomass trading respond. The Biomass Trading Floor reserves the right to contact Buyers for the purposes of following up flag calls. Agreement On Terms Once the Seller and Buyer have agreed relevant terms the Trading Floor will issue a Notice of Sale and register the transaction as closed for the purposes of trade. The Trading Floor will issue Seller and Buyer Invoices as at the date the transaction is deemed closed. Note: It is the responsibility of the Seller and the Buyer to negotiate Freight Scheduling, Freight Costs and other charges. The Trading Floor involvement ends once the transaction has been closed and invoices have been issued. Formed in 2005, Southern Biomass Trading Floor began as a study to find better waste management practices within the Australasian Timer Industry, driven by the need to improve recovery rates and develop new domestic and international markets. This research biomass trading identified a changing market biomass trading environment, whereby technologies and uses have been refined to a point whereby real waste solutions exist and that equally demand for product was and is building momentum. A belief that all waste had value and establishing a central conduit could strengthen the link between supplier and prospective buyer is the essential premise behind the Biomass Trading Floor. The concept of a Trading Floor in itself is not new, multiple product biomass trading offerings for multiple buyers, conducted through a Global organization that facilitates trade.In addition to the expansion of existing markets the downstream benefits will be the highlighting and emergence of new fields and opportunities, information gathering for better commercial decisions and revenue generation for clients biomass trading into potential and exciting new markets. Southern Biomass Trading Floor is a Green business that advocates environmental practices amongst its members and encourages the development of sustainable business practices.