Bean eaters in Mexico are running out of gas.
Ten years ago Mexicans ate their way through 1.45 million tonnes of the pulse crop, but their appetite for beans has fallen to one million tonnes despite continued population growth.
Per capita consumption has dropped to 10 kilograms from 16 kg, said Jesus Humberto Garcia, one of the featured speakers at the Canadian Special Crops Association convention in Cancun March 8-11.
“Every day, every year now, women are working more and more and they just don’t have the time to prepare big traditional meals with beans in it,” said Garcia, who works for Bodega de Granos El Alazan y El Rocio, a Mexican special crops buyer.
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People are eating outside the home, eating fast food and cooking alternative products.
“Beans are competing more and more with pasta, with chicken, with eggs and with rice,” said Garcia, speaking through an interpreter.
There has also been a noticeable rise in the consumption of canned beans because they are faster to prepare. In 1980 there was no canned product on store shelves, but in 2003, that segment is expected to account for seven percent of bean sales.
Canadian special crops exporters aren’t too worried about declining consumption statistics because one million tonnes is still a lot of beans and Canada is poised to take a big bite out of that market.
Mexican bean growers are protected under the North American Free Trade Agreement until 2008. This year, for instance, Canada has a quota of 1,957 tonnes of beans that it can ship to Mexico tariff free. Exports above that quota face a 58.7 percent tariff.
The quota rises to 2,203 tonnes and the tariff drops to 11.8 percent by 2007. And in 2008, it is wide open for business, said Sean Mackenzie, a bean exporter with Ontario’s Hensall District Co-operatives Ltd.
“In 2008, when there’s no more permit and there’s no more NAFTA quota and duties, that grower in Mexico is not protected. He won’t be able to compete,” said Mackenzie.
“The Mexican grower’s average yields are three to five 100-pound bags an acre. In the U.S. and Canada we’re about 15-20 bags per acre.”
Some in the trade estimate Canada could be shipping $30 million worth of beans to Mexico once the quotas and tariffs are removed. Mackenzie thinks it will be much higher than that.
Frank Reimer, a bean exporter with Global Grain Canada Ltd., is also optimistic about what the future holds in Mexico, despite reports of declining bean consumption.
“It may fall to a certain point, but I believe it will stabilize because they are aware of the health benefits.”
He said Mexican delegates who attended the conference were trying to build relationships with Canadian shippers in anticipation of doing more business once trade heats up in 2008.
“All of the sudden, bang, it’s wide open,” said Reimer.
Garcia said Canadian growers and exporters should iron out a few quality problems before the trade doors swing open.
“The beans come with a lot of dirt tag on them, they come with high moisture and they also come with purplish beans in them.”
Mexicans are also looking for a rounder bean, like they get from Michigan’s T39 variety.
He said the “biggest star” for Canada is the black bean. That’s where he thinks the most opportunity lies in terms of demand growth. Mexicans eat about 450,000 tonnes of black beans annually.
“Black beans from Canada are clean, well presented and have good cookability, so there is high demand for them,” he said.
Garcia also commented on the 2002-03 Mexican bean crop during his speech to the 118 CSCA delegates.
Mexico has two harvests: the spring-summer harvest occurs between September and December and the fall-winter one happens during the first three months of the year.
The government has estimated the total 2002-03 harvest at 1.49 million tonnes, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year’s one million tonnes.
Garcia believes the real number is closer to 1.2 million tonnes.
But it’s still a much bigger than average crop and that’s why many traders think the Mexican government banned Canadian and American beans from entering the country earlier this year – a ban that is still in place.
Mexican officials say it was because of phytosanitary concerns.
