2016 USA – Mexico Dry Bean, Congress Report Cancun, Mexico ...files.ctctcdn.com/781eeece401/608b99f7-085f-4147-b84b-ec95b0d97e26.pdf · Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan

Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com

2016 USA – Mexico Dry Bean, Congress Report Cancun, Mexico Feb 11th -13th 2016

This year, the 2016 US Dry Bean Council Congress, done in collaboration with the U.S. Dry Pea & Lentil Council, USA Sunflower Association and the U.S. Popcorn Board, was celebrated in the frame of the International Year of Pulses in Cancun, Mexico. This time the venue was the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach from February 11th through February 14th, 2016.

2016 USDBC Mexico Congress Report, Feb 2016 1

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This important event that every year is the reunion for the U.S. and Mexican legume, sunflower and popcorn industries was attended by 100+ companies between importers and exporters, several of them integrating an important part of the business family. Together, traders and companions brought to our activity close to 170 people. The first class facilities, service and location of this hotel, right in the center of Cancun’s hotel zone where night clubs and restaurants are at walking distance has become an important attraction for our participants

Our program included: the traditional Welcome Reception, the Speaker Program with relevant presentations about dry beans production in Mexico and the United States, USA Dry Pea and Lentil production, USA Sunflower Association and popcorn production and of course, the activities related to the International Year of Pulses were one of the highlights of the event. We also had an overview of the South-Central American and the Caribbean markets. Activities also included.- The Lunch-Networking Session, Sponsor’s Reception and the One on One Business Meetings Session.

The Mexican and U.S. dry bean production presentations were probably the most significant for our audience considering the events occurred in the 2015 Spring-Summer cycle with the discrepancies in production numbers and opinions in Mexico that caused a late sudden demand of U.S. pinto beans at the end of 2015.









Not less important were the presentations of the U.S. dry peas and lentils, sunflower and popcorn production. Besides of the Mexican industry, this year we had participants from: Colombia, Peru, and Chile, where the market for dry beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas and sunflower kernels is growing. As it is happening in most of the markets, the consumer trends are oriented towards healthier foods.





As always, the assortment of products that the participant importers were able to find in this event, made it a very productive activity where they were able to fulfill some product needs and get to know their potential suppliers in a more relaxed but completely business oriented environment.

Besides of our core participants: U.S producers, traders, shippers, etc. Mexican importers, processors and packers as well as some of the most important food manufacturers this time, in the occasion of the International Year of Pulses, it was decided to invite the Supermarket Chains, considering that they are an important segment of the distribution chain for legumes.

It is a fact that Latin American consumers are gradually shifting from the traditional markets to the modern channels to buy their foods and our industries must pay close attention to the retail segment that in a few years might become important direct buyers of bulk legumes and other products.

Although the response from the retailers was not very enthusiastic, we were able and happy to have in the room: The Senior Legume Buyers from 1.-Grupo Chedraui, the third most important in Mexico after Walmart and Soriana and 2.- H-E-B Mexico, a Texas chain that has around 50 stores in Mexican territory gaining more market share to the larger chains every year.





The intention to have the retailers was to have them involved in the IYP2016 celebration and learn more about the importance of these super foods and their promotion to help increase consumption amongst an obese Mexican population.

Our sponsors this year included U.S. popcorn and sunflower companies, equipment companies, producer associations, exporters and a bean bag manufacturer.

The event continues evolving and the format continues to be successful. The participants who come from different important segments of the supply chain of these products enriched the already interesting contents of the program, with their opinions, different views about the markets, information exchange, collaboration ideas and even new product developments that ultimately lead to the final goal: to increase U.S. exports and consumption.

The networking sessions were attended by all the participants and the changes made in the last two editions of the Congress with extended coffee break time and the elimination of the final event to allow them use that time to treat their clients with a dinner, have been welcomed by the buyers and sellers, who took advantage of all the spare time to discuss business.





Last but not least, the Business Meetings Session on the last day was programmed a bit earlier than normal this year, because of the higher than usual demand from the buyers that were looking for U.S. pinto beans mostly.

Of all the years that this event has taken place, we have experienced different situations and stages, from the conflicts related to trade policy during the first years of NAFTA, in the times of the quota permits and the complicated biddings to win dry bean import permits, to years and years of poor Mexican crops, followed by a very aggressive drought and couple of good production years in 2013 and 2014.

Year 2015 will be remembered because of an almost unexpected Mexican poor crop that caused an apparent shortage of dry beans, especially pintos and also black beans for two reasons mainly: pintos because of yield damage to weather and black because this year producers decided to plant more pintos reducing the surface for black beans.





The Mexican 2015 dry bean Spring-Summer rain fed cycle that was planted in June-July and harvested in October-November, was reportedly in good shape until the final stages of maturity. However, at the end of the cycle, Durango, one of the most important producers of pinto beans in Mexico, reported a very low production due to the lack of precipitations during the production stage affecting yields. The state of Chihuahua, the other cycle’s producer of pintos also reported a lower than expected production driving prices up.

In spite of the announced low availability of new crop pinto beans at the end of harvesting season in Durango, the Mexican government announced the bean trading program, -intended to help producers sell their beans in times of low prices-, setting an initial price that was gradually increased by one of the elevators participating in the program, reaching historic high prices up to 16 thousand pesos per MT.




Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com The production in Durango reportedly ended up in hands of almost only one elevator that paid very high prices and that would have to sell at very high prices to recover his investment. For this reason, the Mexican importers rushed until the end of the season to find U.S. beans, with possible lower prices than in Mexico. Besides, the 2016 Fall-Winter Sinaloa crop that produces mostly Yellow Azufrado beans, is also at risk of very low production due a smaller planting surface and to severe winter weather and Pintos are the natural substitute of these beans.

The lack of accurate production information and a blurry Mexican market took by surprise even the experienced traditional importers that most of the times, are ahead the government and the producers. The demand for U.S. pintos was the highlight in the business meetings session and probably the whole event.

This situation provoked the arrival of unexpected “occasional” or “non traditional traders” coming from different parts of Mexico, who arrived on their own without announcement or invitation, directly to the hotel, wanting to be accepted and integrated to the business meetings session with U.S. exporters. Their profiles did not match with our interests and they were strangers to the organizers and therefore they were unfortunately rejected this time.




Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com STRE REPORT IN DETAIL PER DAY

Day 1 – Thursday February 11th, 2016

Registration - The day started at 9:00 am at the registration office set in Room Coral Island 2 in the lobby level of the hotel. Most U.S. participants arrived the day before so most of them registered before noon. Participating importers from Colombia, Peru and Chile and U.S. exporters that arrived on this day registered in the afternoon before the Welcome Reception.

Participants received at the registration desk, a USDBC bag with different materials: exporters directories, a notebook, pens and other promotional giveaways, sponsors brochures etc., their badges that had to be worn during the whole event and their printed business meetings agenda.

Again this year, badges contained in the back 3 QR codes: one with their business information that could be scanned by their clients. The second one with the Congress Agenda and the third one contained their business meetings schedule so that they were able to consult their list and see the name of the companies they were meeting with on Saturday and say hello or introduce themselves during the networking sessions.





As usual, around 70 percent of the participants were registered on this day as usually Mexican importers try to take a late flight to use their full business day at their office and arrive directly to the reception. Registration office closed at 7 pm.

Welcome Reception – Welcome reception started a 7 pm. Although it was originally planned to take place at the pool terrace, the hotel advised that rains were forecasted at the time of the event. For that reason, it was moved to the 4th Floor Foyer, right outside of the conference room where the main program took place the next day. That evening, rain and wind were registered and it was a good call from the hotel to move the event inside.





The turnout was excellent with around 140 people. Hour d'oeuvres with legumes and beverages were served during this session where buyers and sellers welcomed each other. Opening remarks were made by the U.S. Dry Bean Council’s Executive Director Rebecca Bratter, USDBC President Lynn Preator and USDBC Mexico Rep, Raul Caballero. Participants and their companions enjoyed the reception until around 10 pm and some of them continued the night with dinner outside the hotel to host their clients.





STRE REPORT IN DETAIL PER DAY

Day 2 – Friday, February 12th, 2016

Main Program – The main program started at 8 am with welcome remarks from USDBC’s Executive Director Rebecca Bratter, USDBC’s In-market Representative Raul Caballero and Jose Castellanos – Agricultural Specialist from the Agricultural Trade Office – U.S. Embassy Mexico City.

The first presentation of the day was of course the theme of this year: The International Year of Pulses by Ms. Cindy Brown Vice President of the American Pulse Association. During her presentation Ms. Brown showed wonderful videos from countries around the globe where pulses are consumed and explained the importance of these super foods. Ms. Brown also talked about the different activities and plans to promote legume consumption in all the regions as well as opportunities to participate in this initiative.




Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com The second presentation was from John Sandbakken, Executive Director of the U.S. Sunflower Association (NSA). Mr. Sandbakkens’ presentation included important information about production and availability of sunflower seeds and kernels for the different segments of the industry. He also presented the different promotional efforts being carried out in Mexico by the In-market Contractor, mostly focused on the bakery industry and also the ever-growing snack segment including the healthy-good for you oriented sector. Sunflower consumption in Mexico has switched from almost zero human and only pets to a more balanced share in the last 10 years. Important efforts have been made educating the consumers about the nutritional and health benefits of U.S. Sunflower products.

Randy Duckworth, USDBC’s In-market Representative for South-Central America and the Caribbean was responsible of the third presentation of the day. Mr. Duckworth talked about the programs to promote bean consumption in this region.

The fourth presentation was made by the U.S Popcorn Board represented this time by Mr. Norm Krug, Treasurer of the association and CEO of Preferred Popcorn, a long-time supplier of U.S. popcorn in Mexico. Mr. Krug talked about the latest numbers of production and also about the Marketing efforts executed in Mexico to increase popcorn consumption.




Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com The next and fifth presentation of the morning was a very interesting one by Rebecca Bratter USDBC’s Executive Director, about Trade Policy around the world and all the factors that affect, from free trade, globalization and population to weather events and climate change and the affectations within.

Coffee Break – Networking Session – Before noon, presentations stopped to make a 45-minute break for importers and exporters to mingle and get acquainted or start/continue a business conversation. This session took place right outside of the Conference Room where the Main Program was in progress. After this break, participants returned to the room and took their seats to continue with the program.

Sixth presentation: 2015 Mexican Dry Bean Crop – Spring Summer Cycle Dr. Enrique Bautista, President of the Chihuahua State’s Agricultural Council was in charge of presenting the polemic results of dry bean production in this cycle that accounts for 70% of the beans in Mexico. The conclusion as we all new by that time, was that Mexico will need to import beans as production this year was short and quality was not good.

Seventh presentation was about the U.S. Dry Bean Production – Judd Keller from Kelley Bean Company presented the production numbers of the 2015 U.S. Dry Bean Crop. Also a very important subject for the importers as they wanted to understand how many pintos and blacks were available to buy. Participants were paying a lot of attention to his words and took notes to work their numbers and be able to negotiate purchases with some more educated estimations.

The eight presentation was from the U.S Dry Pea and Lentil Council – This time Ms. Raychel Cook from Viterra was given the task to talk about the production numbers of these legumes. Her presentation started talking about the work the association does to promote U.S. dry peas, lentils and chickpeas around the world. Following were the numbers: production, inventories, demand and supply, exports, country destinations and forecasts.

The last presentation of the program was about the Tech Trends in the World for Grain Sorters – presented by one of our sponsors: Victor Zamora from Delta Technologies. Mr. Zamora talked about the important developments in the segment and showed the latest models available in the market, an interesting subject for our many of our participants, as they are users of this equipment.

The Main Program ended around 2:30 pm and after remarks and wrap up by the organizer: USDBC’s Mexico Representative Raul Caballero. Participants were invited to reconvene in the area where the Sponsored Lunch took place.





Participants gathered again at Viña del Mar restaurant in the hotel and buyers and sellers sat together with their families to interact again. In some cases, buyers and sellers were actually having business conversations and others were just having a good meal. The wonderful buffet menu included legumes in most of the dishes and preparations. Sunflower kernels and popcorn were also served as toppings for the salads. Lunch lasted until after 4:00 pm.

Participants left the restaurant around 4 pm to have a nice pool time to continue talking business and some other just took a table to have more business meetings taking advantage of the free time before the Casino Night.









Sponsors Reception – Casino Night

Our main conference room transformed into a nice casino with the help of a company dedicated to this kind of service and doors opened at 7 pm. Participants started arriving at that time and by 8 pm the room was full. Casino night is very popular amongst our crowd and they are always looking forward to it.

Practically all participants and their companions were gambling at the different tables, having a lot of fun, and getting acquainted with buyers and sellers. Hour d'oeuvres and beverages were served in during this function. All food contained legumes in some form. Casino night ended around 11 pm and many of the participants continued through the night going for dinner and nightclubs nearby.





Day 3 and Last Day – Saturday February 13th, 2016

The day started early at 7:30 am at the main conference room transformed again into a meeting room with 26 banquet tables that served as the buyers’ office for about 4.5 hours in two turns. At the end of the session more than 400 business meetings officially took place in that room, however, many more business meetings were conducted in the spare tables designated for this purpose. Needless to say that this is probably the core part of this activity, where some conversations started on the first day or the night before become a purchase or where they start a new negotiation and orders are taken.




Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com Buyers were divided in two groups to let all have their one-on-one meetings. This session ended after 4:30 pm. Buyers and sellers received their business meeting schedule in electronic form prior to their arrival to the congress and also received a printed schedule with their registration materials and badges at the registration desk.

But most importantly, all the information every participant required through the whole event was available via QR code in the back of their own badges. Copies of the schedule were available for all participants upon request to the organizer.

All meetings were prepared as always by the Mexico In-market Representative, according to a criteria based on the data submitted by the importers and the exporters in the online registration format. Thus, the buyers met only U.S companies that sell the varieties consumed in their region and sellers meet with the buyers based in the countries they have product for, also on a first come-first serve basis.

After this session, the official program of the 2016 U.S. Dry Bean Congress in the International Year of Legumes ended successfully. Participants were perceived satisfied with the event.
















Mercalimentos Consultores S.C. In Market Representatives 52+55 5362-7407, [email protected] Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Estado de México www.mercalimentos.com An approximate total of 360+ one on one business meetings took place between importers and exporters to create business opportunities for USA companies.

The list of participants to the event





No. Nombre y Apellido Empresa País 2ndo Adulto1 Cesar Palacios Nevarez Semillas Fehr México 107 Manuela Galaviz Gutierrez2 Guillermo Cárdenas Sapien AgriGrain México México3 Amado Balderrama Acuña El Sol del Campesino México 108 Ma Guadalupe Angeles Ballesteros4 Lizbet Hernandez Tiendas Chedraui México 109 Silvia E Hernandez Blanco5 Johnny Geroge Aquino Zapata Intercompany y Sr de Huanca Peru 110 Dionicia Zapata Vda de Aquino6 Olivia Bibayoff HEB Mexico México7 Juan Guillermo Aristizabal GRANIPACK Colombia8 Juan Camilo Moreno Alzate GRANIPACK Colombia9 Fernando Fernandez Distribuidora de Granos Alimenticios México 111 Rodrigo Fernandez

10 Jorge Pérez Álvarez Los Pérez De Poanas México 112 Dalila Hernández Gutiérrez11 Francisco Perez Comercializadora Gran Colmado Colombia12 Miguel Angel Vazquez Gomez Schettino Hermanos México13 Miriam Rodriguez Mercalimentos Consultores (In Market Re México 113 Mariana Repetto14 Victor Leal Mercalimentos Consultores (In Market Re México 114 Javier Mijangos15 Raul Caballero Mercalimentos Consultores (In Market Re México 115 Violeta Picazzo16 Marco Antonio Muñiz Galvez DSCS El Ranchero México 116 Francisco Javier Mayorga Briones17 Marco Antonio Muñiz Ruiz DSCS El Ranchero México 117 Marco Antonio Muñiz Ruiz18 Oscar Felipe Sandoval PURP México 118 Jesœs Gonzalo Pérez Carranza19 Randall Duckworth US Dry Bean Council USA20 Angulo Leon Jorge Antonio Grupo Sadhaka México 119 Laura Castillo Rojas21 Jose Luis Birrer Soc. Distribuidora de Productos Cabagan Chile22 Angélica Cruz Sánchez Granut Mix México 120 Diana Sotelo Cruz23 Alonso Munguia Ricalde Importadora Kukulkan México24 Pedro Jose Sanabria Comercializadora San Pedro Colombia25 Lucia Gonzalez De Siman Eco Foods El Salvador 121 Rolando Siman26 Rolando Siman Eco Foods El Salvador 122 Lucia Gonzalez De Siman27 Dario Alzate Aburra Colombia 123 David Alzate Gaviria28 Enrique Yañez De Luna Casa el Frijolito México 124 Roxana Rivera Cabrera29 Max Igor Arias Chavarria Agro Proveedora Del Pacifico México30 Javier Lozano Lozano Magaña México31 Jose Antonio Samano H Empacadora de Semillas Zaragoza México32 Juan Carlos Abascal Casa Abascal México 125 Javier Abascal33 Branko Pavic Nama Internacional Chile34 Ricardo San Miguel PROSEMEX México35 Gerardo Chaidez Rivas Granos de Sinaloa México 126 Gustavo Fernandez Morelos36 Sergio Vaca DIGRAVA México37 John Sandbakken National Sunflower Association USA38 Wesley Ullrich USDBC USA 127 Debra Ullrich39 Ramón Domínguez Portilla Kadosa Internacional México40 Ramón Domínguez Turanzas Kadosa Internacional México 128 Aurora Portilla de Domínguez41 Hector De Luna Gonzalez Productos Verde Valle México 129 Mariana Iriarte Estrella42 Jose Bello Frimex Alimentos México 130 Maria del Consuelo Muñoz Sotolujan43 Leobardo Balderrama Acuña Comercializadora Agricola Arleem México 131 Violeta Gomez Jimenez44 Eduardo Assael Kosmiko México45 Rebecca Bratter US Dry Bean Council USA46 Juan Carlos Rubio Alvarez Comercializadora de Granos Seleccionado México 132 Liliana Serrano Retana47 Alejandro Rubio Alvarez Comercializadora de Granos Seleccionado México 133 Juan Carlos Rubio Alvarez48 Maria del Carmen Torres SuarezNoriega y Lavalle México49 Eleazar Cota Garcia Bodega de Granos el Alazan y el Rocio México 134 Blanca Ploenning50 Jesus García Bodega de Granos el Alazan y el Rocio México 135 Raymundo Godinez Aburto51 Fabiola Canchola Elizarraraz Almacenes Vaca México 136 Rosa Maria Elizarraraz Rocha52 Aristoteles Vaca Perez Almacenes Vaca México 137 Ana Rocio Gutierrez Preciat53 Gilberto Montemayor Compañia General de Viveres México54 Adolfo Juarez Importacion y Distribucion de Alimentos México 138 Lizeth Lozano Mendoza55 Jorge Uriarte Intercontinental de Mexico México 139 Francisco Martinez Macias56





A participant’s survey is in process for results follow up. For more pictures and the copies of the presentations please visit www.usbeancongress.com

No. Name and Last name Organization Country 2nd Adult57 Franliz Medina New Coast Trading USA58 Ed Guzi Latinex Intl. USA59 Samuel Peck SKE Midwestern USA60 Jonathan Lane Weaver Popcorn Company USA61 Zachary Preator Preator Bean Company USA62 Lynn Preator Preator Bean Company USA63 Joe Marcoantonio LA Foods USA64 Giuliana Pasquale LA Foods USA65 Carlos Gonzalez Iglesias Grupo Gonig México 140 Ruben Gonzalez Contreras66 Laurie Schumer American Bean Company USA 141 Steven Schumer67 Bob LaFond American Bean Company USA68 Craig Anderson American Bean Company USA 142 Kristen Slover69 Javier Fuentes Commercial Lynks USA70 Paul Knoerr Bayside Best Beans USA 143 Lisa Marie Knoerr71 Carlos Sainz TRC Trading USA72 Mario Del Villar TRC Trading USA73 John Berthold Walhalla Bean \ Columbia Grain USA 144 Kari Berthold74 Daniel Sturt DW Sturt & Co USA 145 Daniel W. Sturt III75 Jeff Strobel Southwest Agra Imports USA 146 Lisa Pica76 Cindy Brown Chippewa Valley Bean USA77 Kurt Bollingberg Bollingberg Seeds USA 147 Cheryl Bollingberg78 Judd Keller Kelley Bean USA79 Vinicio Pineda Delta Technology USA 148 Mrs. Pineda80 Victor Zamora Delta Technology USA 149 Mrs. Zamora81 Brian Engstrom Engstrom Bean USA 150 Kimberly Engstrom82 John W manchester The Manchester USA 151 Therese S. Manchester83 Tom Kennelly Northarvest Bean Growers Assn USA 152 Lynde Kennelly84 Raychel Cook Viterra USA USA85 Scott Mund Northarvest Bean Growers Assn USA86 Joe Mauch Northarvest Bean Growers Assn USA 153 Stacey Mauch87 Norman Krug Preferred Popcorn USA 154 Sue Krug88 Lesa White Trinidad Benham USA89 Richard Duty Trinidad Benham USA90 Roger Hupfer Freeland Bean & Grain USA 155 Scott Hupfer91 Clint Stoutenburg Michigan Bean Commission USA 156 Carolyn Stoutenburg92 Greg Ackerman Michigan Bean Commission USA 157 Cheryl Ackerman93 Christine Hirschey Friederichs Seed USA 158 Jason Hajek94 Tara Jensen Red River Commodities USA95 Robert Chandonnet Star of the West Milling USA 159 Joely Kris Chandonnet96 Maurice Cubias Three Maurice Product Sales Company USA 160 Elzie N Cubias97 Gabriela Cavagnero Weaver Popcorn USA 161 Guillermo Lugli98 Juan Alvarado Alvarado Commodities USA99 Aidin Milani Buhler USA

100 Joe Cramer Michigan Bean Commission USA 162 Kathy Cramer101 Michael Janowicz Cooperative Elevator USA 163 Wendy Janowicz102 Brad Witek Bayside Best Beans USA 164 Beth Witek103 Candy Willett Steele & Company USA104 STEVEN L BROWN Grace Management Services USA 165 Cherrie Ann Brown105 Patric Pike Satake USA USA 166 Cindy Pike106 Johanna Bot Satake USA USA 167 Tim Thomas




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2016 USA – Mexico Dry Bean, Congress Report Cancun, Mexico ...files.ctctcdn.com/781eeece401/608b99f7-085f-4147-b84b-ec95b0d97e26.pdf · Ailes 2 Chabacanos 4, Las Huertas, Atizapan

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