Product Context Summary

Why the Product Exists

Four market conditions create the opportunity:

1. Opaque -- no centralized pricing or transparency in paper surplus
2. Manual -- email chains, phone calls, broker intermediaries dominate
3. Slow -- days or weeks to find a buyer for surplus stock
4. Fragmented -- no single platform connecting mills and buyers globally

The product is essentially the first digital infrastructure layer for an industry that has none.

User Journeys

Mill Side (Supplier)

The mill workflow is intentionally unchanged. A mill sales manager emails an Excel file to the platform -- the same action they already perform with brokers. The AI parses the spreadsheet into structured surplus data. Geographic visibility rules determine which regions can see the surplus. Matched buyers are then notified automatically.

This is the wiki/concepts/zero-friction-mill-pattern in action: zero behavior change required from mills.

Buyer Side

Buyers register with detailed specifications: paper types, GSM ranges, quality grades, volumes, and delivery preferences. The platform matches incoming surplus to these specs, sends newsletter alerts, and grants 48-hour exclusivity windows on high-relevance matches. Container assembly proposals help buyers combine partial lots into economical shipments.

Admin Side (Morichal)

wiki/entities/morichal-trading monitors surplus ingestion quality, configures geographic visibility rules, manages mill and buyer relationships, and tracks transactions and commissions.

The Three Pillars

Every transaction in paper trading involves three interconnected aspects that the platform must respect:

1. Credit / Payment -- payment terms, credit risk, letters of credit
2. Documentation -- bills of lading, quality certificates, phytosanitary documents
3. Trust / Relationships -- long-term mill-buyer relationships, reputation

See wiki/concepts/three-pillars for the full concept page. The key insight: technology alone does not replace trust. Morichal's industry reputation backs the platform's credibility.

UX Design Goals

• Zero behavior change for mills -- Excel and email, nothing new
• Fast matching for buyers -- spec-based, not browsing classifieds
• Transparency -- clear pricing, quality grades, quantities
• Trust -- Morichal's reputation as the backing guarantee
• Simplicity -- MVP is deliberately minimal

What the MVP Explicitly Excludes

• Real-time trading platform or exchange
• Auction system
• Logistics/shipping management
• Payment processing
• Document management system (planned for later)

These exclusions are intentional scope boundaries, not oversights. The MVP focuses on the matching and notification pipeline.

Sources

• raw/notes/productContext -- full product context with user journeys, UX goals, Three Pillars framework, and MVP scope

Related

• wiki/summaries/projectbrief-summary -- partnership and business model context
• wiki/concepts/three-pillars -- the Credit/Documentation/Trust framework
• wiki/concepts/zero-friction-mill-pattern -- mill onboarding philosophy
• wiki/concepts/six-core-entities -- the data model that supports these journeys
• wiki/concepts/eight-core-actions -- the actions that implement these journeys
• wiki/entities/morichal-trading -- admin operator of the platform