Commerce Ventures

, the industry-driven e-marketplace for the US meat and poultry sector, has launched an information site ahead of its new exchange, to be known as Provision X. Trading at www.provisionx.com, the marketplace is said by Commerce Ventures to “represent the next step towards the launch of the neutral, online meat and poultry marketplace.”

Perhaps made cautious by recent high-profile collapses of online food marketplaces, Commerce Ventures was keen to stress when announcing the site that Provision X is not about radically changing the way business is concluded but instead a natural progression of existing opportunities and practices. Del Holzer, vice president of marketing, said that the site’s tagline, “Evolutionizing the Meat and Poultry Industry,” had been chosen expressly to stress that “Provision X represents the next step in the way our customers conduct business – not a replacement for the current system.”

Commerce Ventures was launched in April 2000 by several meat industry giants; including Tyson and the red meat arms of Cargill and Farmland Industries. Despite the grouping’s apparent tardiness in getting a product to market, it was widely blamed for the collapse of FoodUSA.com, the independent meat exchange that failed to find sufficient investment as potential backers waited for more news of the nascent venture backed by the big names.

CEO Kevin Nemetz tacitly addressed the venture’s lack of speed, explaining: “We have taken our time to strategically plan and build Provision X so that it emulates the meat and poultry industry – it takes a considerable amount of upfront research and integration to deliver a realistic and flexible marketplace.”

Indeed, the site launched this week is not the live trading site – that is still “impending.” However, visitors to www.provisionX.com can gain an insight into what the site will be offering when it eventually launches, scheduled for late first quarter of 2001.

To read more about the collapse of FoodUSA.com, click here.