Grupo Flor Builds the Cannabis Industry’s First Commodity Trading Desk

Highly vetted platform will connect buyers and sellers of THC and CBD raw materials

SALINAS, Calif. – April 1, 2019 /Canna Newswire/ – Grupo Flor™, a multi-national vertical cannabis company, has launched the cannabis industry’s first commodity trading desk. Using a proprietary version of commodity trading software the company developed, the desk connects buyers and sellers for the purchase and sale of raw cannabis materials including hemp biomass, THC flower, THC trim, CBD/THC crude and distillate oil, and CBD isolate. In its first week of operation, the desk executed several million dollars’ worth of trades.

“We created a more efficient exchange for buyers and sellers by solving two critical problems,” according to Grupo Flor CEO Paul Henderson. “Buyers are sourcing raw materials from an array of entities and many of the products are inconsistent and unreliable. On the flip side, these sellers don’t have the support and logistics infrastructure to efficiently sell and transport their product. We believe this trading platform is a win-win for the entire industry.”

Expansion plans
The desk was initially introduced in the California THC market but has rapidly expanded into the national CBD market using an established network of farmers in states including Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. The desk also plans to add Colombia as its first international sourcing pipeline in the near future.

Grupo Flor Co-Founder Gavin Kogan added, “We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for some time. As California’s THC market continues to explode, the desk will be instrumental in facilitating trades and moving physical goods around the state via our licensed warehouses and transportation network.”

How it works
All suppliers and buyers listed on the desk are heavily vetted based on their growing sites, manufacturing processes, management, licensing, and compliance with only the most qualified partners being introduced into the network. Once a partner is approved, the desk works with buyers to find the appropriate supply they need or the desk works with sellers looking to move large quantities of raw materials through the buyer network.

The desk has the ability to enter into contract growing arrangements on behalf of buyers or to simply fill spot-market orders. Traders host weekly conference calls with buyers and sellers to discuss pricing trends among products in different markets. Sales data is logged for the eventual creation of futures contracts.