SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - May 11, 2009) - Today, SignalDemand announced the availability of a new solution, MarketForecaster™, targeted to the unique needs of buyers and sellers of agricultural commodities. MarketForecaster™ provides historical and projected commodity prices through an intuitive user interface, enabling fact-based decision making for growers, manufacturers, retailers, restaurants and other players in the food industry as they buy and sell commodities or products made from commodities. SignalDemand's patent-pending mathematical models and forecasting methodologies, combined with its customers' market experiences, create a powerful combination for driving improved revenue results, pricing processes, and win-win customer relationships.
SignalDemand's subscription-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution provides historical and projected market level prices through a highly intuitive, web-based application available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Price forecasts are updated daily, providing real-time visibility and increasing buyers' and sellers' confidence to commit to more "out front" -- or forward -- orders.
"Agricultural commodities markets have seen a significant increase in volatility over the past few years. These price fluctuations represent significant risk to organizations whose core business involves buying, selling, or adding value to these commodities," said Mike Neal, CEO and founder of SignalDemand. "In this volatile climate, the easiest and most common reaction has been to limit the volume of forward sales and simply get the best price possible in the short term through tough price negotiations with trading partners. Growers, manufacturers, distributors, restaurants and retailers often view the size of the pie -- the total revenues and profits available in a trading relationship -- as fixed. We believe this is far from true; with deeper fact-based insight into forward markets, buyers and sellers can together focus on consumer-oriented solutions that benefit both parties."
"Throughout the value chain of most agricultural commodity markets, the operating model has been one of 'bid and quibble' between trading partners," said Bill Rupp, SignalDemand board member and former president of Cargill Meat Solutions. "Math-based forecasting models allow the negotiation to start grounded, and in a similar set of facts, so that the discussion can go well beyond price and create more win-win scenarios across the value chain."
Initial "commodity packages" within MarketForecaster™ are focused on the beef and pork industries, with many new commodities planned for addition each month.
About SignalDemand
SignalDemand provides buyers and sellers of agricultural commodities including growers, manufacturers, grocery retailers, and restaurants with on-demand software and services to achieve maximum profit margins in the face of volatile markets and increasingly complex pricing decisions. Using patent-pending, comprehensive mathematical models to process thousands of variables, SignalDemand delivers real-time price and margin recommendations on a continual basis. By recommending best price, capacity utilization and product mix in moments, SignalDemand enables better day-to-day decision-making.
Contact Information: Media contact: Meghan Keough 415-356-0800 ext 597 meghan [dot] keough [at] signaldemand [dot] com