Relationship Building Creates New Business Opportunities For U.S. And Mexican Companies

Using Market Access Program (MAP) funds, the U.S. Grains Council’s office in Mexico has worked to facilitate corn sales and build lasting relationships between Mexican feed companies and U.S. suppliers for decades. The story of BH Comercializadora illustrates how this work continues to benefit U.S. exporters.

In June 2018, the purchasing manager for BH Comercializadora, SA de CV, a family business located in Michoacán, traveled on a Council-sponsored trade team with other young entrepreneurs from Jalisco and the surrounding area to the United States, including Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. The goal of this mission was to better understand the U.S. corn and sorghum marketing systems, including touring grain cooperatives and ethanol plants.

During that trip, BH Comercializadora solidified a trading relationship with the Andersons Group, based in Kanas, which recently requested to use BH Comercializadora’s shuttle train facility and bins to store grain for trade in Mexico. BH Comercializadora buys grain from Andersons Group for its own use, as it is also a swine producer (under Grupo Delta brand) and feed miller. BH Comercializadora also provides storage services for the Andersons Group, which allows consumers in Michoacan to purchase corn in smaller quantities.

Prior to this trip, contacts at the two companies had not met in person and doing so helped both partners gain confidence and trust in each other. Together, they decided to move forward with their business partnership by sending unit trains to the Mexican company’s facilities in Michoacán.

In June 2019, the purchasing manager traveled once again on a trade mission with the Council and took a two-day procurement course at IGP-Kansas State University, where he learned about issues affecting grain price and how to calculate basis. In July 2019, directly after this trade mission, he purchased two, 110-car shuttle trains of corn (22,000 MT) for an average price of $3.85/bushel through September 2019.

The Council’s most important work is in facilitating lasting relationships between Mexican buyers and U.S. exporters – providing important opportunities for face to face negotiations. Young entrepreneurs and others targeted in this annual trade team are taking over their family businesses and growing them in dynamic ways. BH Comercializadora is an “influencer” company for others in the region, so by helping its leaders form business relationships within the United States, the Council expects to encourage other long-term relationships that will follow.

The Council invested roughly $6,000 in MAP funds to conduct this company’s trade team travels to the United States, which resulted in $84,700 in sales, for a net return of investment (ROI) of $13 per $1 of MAP funds invested.