Start-up company DiMuto -based in Singapore- which provides end-to-end supply chain visibility for the fruits industry, has closed a deal with Thailand's largest fresh durian exporter and frozen durian producer Queen Frozen Fruit.
For the upcoming durian season, DiMuto will tag, track and trace around four million fresh durians from Thailand to China, Japan and other parts of Asia. Data is encrypted and loaded onto a distributed ledger, enabling Queen and its trade partners to create trade contracts, monitor packing status and confirm product receipts.
The increased transparency helps solve one of the biggest issues faced by the fresh fruits industry – access to traditional bank financing, said DiMuto. The start-up has partnered fund management firm Havenport Investments for trade financing.
"Securing funding from banks has always been a challenge in the fresh fruits industry as risk managers cannot see what is happening behind the scenes. Due to the disconnected visibility in the supply chain, the industry is paying a heavy cost for trade disputes, food safety breaches and wastage," said DiMuto's founder and chairman Gary Loh.
According to businesstimes.com.sg¸ beyond durians, DiMuto is set to apply its technology to other produce categories. During its product trials between March and June, DiMuto tagged 1.2 million fruits including durians, apples and avocados for industry players in the US, Thailand, Mexico, Australia and China.