A Brazilian foreign trade monitoring specialist has developed a new global wood digital platform to bring greater security and transparency to the international timber trade.
Launched in May by WoodFlow, the digital dashboard will show statistical data on volumes, prices, shipments, and other information.
For example, says WoodFlow CEO Gustavo Milazzo, if a company in Brazil is exporting sawn pine wood to the US, the platform will photograph each timber shipment to determine the quality, measurements, density, humidity, and other data of the product.
“It brings security and transparency to both sides,” Milazzo said.
“Importers on the other side of the world will know that wood shipments ordered and produced in Brazil meet required standards.”
The second new functionality, initially aimed at buyers who, within the WoodFlow platform, will have a virtual panel with statistical data of the shipments they made through the platform.
The dashboard provides data such as the volume of shipments, average prices paid, places of embarkation, and other information about trading negotiations.
“Gradually we want to expand this functionality to suppliers, acting more and more as strategic partners in the export of wood abroad,” says Milazzo.
“By identifying the technology, we can improve and give more agility to the wood export process.”
Giullian Fernanda Silva, the co-founder of WoodFlow, added: “The market needed something that would show what Brazilian wood industries are like, the technologies present and the products we can deliver to the world. So, we created the WoodFlow platform.”
How can technology boost business abroad?
Before answering that, Silva said, “it is necessary to keep in mind that we live in a connected world, and technologies every day are transforming the way we relate, work and live.”
“During the isolation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, this has become very clear and many contacts that were previously only face-to-face have become mediated by technology.”
The first functionality WoodFlow allows through technology is to know the Brazilian factories are only a click away. This approach, even if virtual, helps demystify the Brazilian forest sector abroad, where it is possible to show the entire production process and create a positive image of each producer registered on the platform.
This also involves a video interview and a virtual tour, where the customer can ‘walk’ through the factory, from anywhere in the world, just by using a cell phone, for example.
The WoodFlow platform concentrates all the data from the request for a quotation to the end of the trade, eliminating dozens of email exchanges and document submissions.
The entire wood export process is archived using the platform and can be accessed at any time.
The platform showcases different buyers worldwide, and it is possible to make product offers directly on the platform.
“Brazilian government foreign trade specialists support the entire process,” Silva said.
“Companies here in Brazil do not need to hire a specific person for the position or use interpreters and translators during negotiations.”
