The Produce Exchange of Treviso is a specialized infrastructure, intended for the bargaining of agricultural and zootechnical products, mainly of local origin, and it represents a valid support for the marketing of the primary sector. At the Produce Exchange the producer or the broker can find, with the help of other brokers, the corresponding counterpart to trade his products at the right time.

But the Produce Exchange presents another important advantage compared to the normal wholesale or retail market, which allow the contact between demand and supply. At the Exchange Produce the bargaining is possible also without the physical presence of goods, that is without the need of transportation of goods in the place of bargaining. In this way, goods can be directly transferred to the final buyer’s storehouse, with evident savings for transportation and conservation.

This way of acting naturally implies that negotiated goods must have uniform characteristics and satisfying levels of quality. For this reason, the Chamber of Commerce and the operators of the sector contribute to the definition of “standard” of products and contracts, to facilitate the functionality and development of the market.

Doctor Renato Chahinian

The Produce Exchange is situated in the centre of Treviso, near to Piazza dei Signori and to the historical nucleus of the ancient medieval Commune. Maybe it could seem the place less suited to be easily reached by operators that usually frequent it, who often come from places outside the province or region. But, according to surveys, the frequenters’ affection for the position of the Produce Exchange, which permits to mix together work and the tastes of the Marca, is still much felt.

The structure, which was certainly revolutionary in the 1955, remains an example of avant-garde architecture and can still offer a comfortable and equipped reception to producers, traders and brokers, with large spaces, private boxes and tables around which it is possible to conduct negotiations. In the secretary’s box, a computer connected with the Office of Prices can satisfy the requirements of quotations related to previous markets and a fax is at free disposal for the sending of urgent documents.

The diminished flow of people in last years is a phenomenon that did not spare a single Produce Exchange, included those that are situated in cities that boast a more consolidated historical tradition, strategic importance and a larger representativeness, both in territorial terms and from the point of view of products. This phenomenon induced the Chamber of Commerce to assign to other purposes the “balcony” that, till some years ago, was the undisputed reign of rabbit and chicken breeders. But the drop in presence did not devalue the role of the Produce Exchange of Treviso and the hard core of operators and frequenters stopped the desertion, maintaining a regular number of presences that cannot be ignored.

The improved clarity of Italian inter-associative contracts, which were drawn up also by operators of the local Produce Exchange, favoured a greater clearness concerning the essential characteristics of products and gave operators a bigger tranquillity as regards the quality of traded goods. The reciprocal knowledge and the safeguard of contracts permitted the carrying out of exchanges with modalities that can be different from the physical meeting of parts.

Owing to the issue of the DPR 10.12.1990, which established the substitution of the Bargaining Room with the Produce Exchange, the structure was equipped with monitors, positioned in strategic places, for the visualization of closing prices, both of the previous market and of the main Italian places of business, with reference to the most important sectors.

But, with the development of technology, telematic systems and thick contents concerning prices (inserted in Internet by the Chamber of Commerce), the information via display, substantially static and only readable, gradually made frequenters lose interest in it, also for the long and forced waiting for the consultation of prices.

For these reasons and also to make easier the work of data typing to be made by the Office of Prices, the Chamber’s Council decided to improve and simplify the program SIBOT, but without the elimination of the previous bases that were still valid. In the 2000, the updating work began with the introduction of a new system of databases with the characteristics of SIBOT, but more easily manageable, called WIN SIBOT.

After the first phase, during which Customer Master, Batching and Quotations were reconstructed following primary needs, in the second phase the aim was the improvement of the system according to the following needs:

• insertion of weekly quotations in a single session;
• elaboration of statistics (simple mean, histograms, etc.);
• transposition of data on file as to be reproducible in electronic format;
• issue of printed form for Commissions, Infocenters, etc;
• publication of data on the Chamber’s web site and mailing of data to the box of InformAzienda for vocal or via fax consultations;
• mailing of prices through a special mailing-list.