“Pulses aren’t work; they’re a lifestyle!”/
BeGrait’s Felipe Sandoval on why he’ll never tire of the industry

Felipe will be an analyst on the chickpea, black bean, pinto bean and yellow bean panels at the GPC’s America’s Pulses Congress in Cancun on December 3-5. Not registered yet? Sign up for the event here

It's great to see you again, Felipe! How are things?

All good thank you! Everything has been very relaxed but now we're coming into the important season as the seeding for beans, chickpeas, and corn are all starting up.

Yes, I imagine things are about to get very busy, so thanks again for coming to chat with us. Let’s talk a bit about you and your company, BeGrait. How did you get started in the industry, and when did BeGrait begin?

From around 1998, I had been working in different commercial ventures here in Mexico, then fifteen years ago I really started my ‘romance’ with pulses and other grains. I fell in love with the industry almost immediately, plus I had the good luck to meet and deal with all the right people who, over the years, became good friends and teachers who helped reveal the secrets of the industry to me.

To be honest, nowadays I enjoy the work so much that I don't really think of it as work, or the company as a company; it's all more of a lifestyle, something that's a part of me and my daily routine.

About seven years ago, I had a little curiosity that grew into a dream, and then that dream slowly transformed into different objectives and goals for the future at a time when I least expected it. In 2017, BeGrait was born.

What are some of the pulses BeGrait deals with and the services it offers?

In Mexico we deal with chickpeas and beans - black beans, pinto beans, and yellow beans.

In terms of import/export, we also give brokerage services and consultations regarding different markets and work as representatives for companies abroad who wish to deal in Mexico. We represent Mexican companies who wish to export too – again, mainly beans and chickpeas.

Everything we do, we do with passion and enthusiasm, and that's brought us great things. People say you should dream big, but work hard, and I think they're right.

Where do most of your imported pulses come from? Which are the big markets that Mexico buys its pulses from?

Most of the pulses that are imported into Mexico come from Canada and the United States, that's beans, lentils, and although it's not a pulse, we also import some canary seed.

As for exports, what are the big markets that you export to?

Well, we export chickpeas and yellow beans to the United States, but I often consider that an extension of the Mexican market within the US as the consumer of beans in the US is often Mexican. There are also many Peruvians who live there that consume yellow beans. We do also export directly to Peru as the Mexican internal market for yellow beans is fairly limited. They are our main markets for beans, but also we have markets that pop-up every now and then with some demand and we might send some containers over to them – like Portugal or Italy.

Chickpeas have a much bigger export market. We represent a lot of exporters here in Mexico who export to Peru, Columbia, Spain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and even India - India are usually exporters but they can suddenly be importers when the need arises.

What have been some of the biggest difficulties that BeGrait has faced over the last few years?

Of course there was the pandemic, during which consumers began to buy in huge amounts which had a huge effect on the market. Prices went up to extortionate levels. For example, producers in Sinaloa saw the high prices of yellow beans and decided that a fairer price for their beans would be a minimum of $1500/$1800 a tonne. If they didn’t get that then they wouldn’t sell. Things just got much too expensive.

A lot of importers here in Mexico ended up stuck with very expensive inventories because they paid the expensive prices during a period of high demand that in the end was related to panic, rather than a jump in demand that would become the new normal.

One of the other big problems has been the issue with transport, of course. Certain ports began to close, or they didn't have available containers - sometimes, you could buy, but you couldn't transport the goods. Even today, things are still crazy, and I think it's one of the factors that means chickpeas haven't risen in price despite there being a short crop.

As you know we have the Americas Pulses Congress coming up in December in Cancun - you're going to be on four different panels as an analyst. Can you tell us which panels you'll be working on, and what will be some of the topics you'll be touching on?

That's right, I'm going to be an analyst on the black bean, pinto bean, chickpea, and yellow bean panels. Those are the markets of which I have a good grasp and regular updated numbers for where each one stands and where it's going.

One of the topics that I have in mind to speak about is a particular personal interest I have in the habit of everyday consumers right now in Mexico. I'd like to talk about the quantities of beans that are really consumed here;

many people talk about an average per capita of 7 kg of beans, whereas when I started in this industry, the numbers were more like 12 or 13 kg per capita. 

We’ve had a big drop in consumption, and I think that's a really important topic. I'd like to go through the different varieties of beans, their consumption levels and the behavior of prices for the consumer.

Would you say that the consumption numbers that people use are perhaps out of date? Are the consumption numbers even lower?

I think so, yes. Often we say that Mexico produces just over 1 million tons of beans, more or less, and that we consume more or less exactly the same. Then every year people say, "Why do we have so many beans left over?” - I think that's because if you look at updated numbers we simply aren't consuming the same amount as we used to.

That certainly sounds like an interesting topic to get stuck into - We look forward to hearing more about it in Cancun. What do you think of some of the main advantages of an event like the Americas Pulses Congress?

There are a lot of different benefits to an event like this: firstly, the panelists all have a great deal of market knowledge that they're able to share with the attendees. In our business, information is key, so getting to hear up-to-date information about the internal movements of different markets is always really useful.Then there is the element of networking.

At these events you get to chat with a variety of different people who really know the industry well.

I always bump into different people at conventions who say, "Hey, Felipe, what do you think about this, or what do you think about that?” - we can talk, swap cards and share really interesting conversations that can help us make the right decisions for our businesses.

Finally, how do you see the coming years for BeGrait? How do you want to progress as a business?

I think the future for BeGrait can be really interesting. I definitely see us expanding into new markets internationally, but we will always maintain and consolidate great business relationships that we already have. For us, that is a core value.