Mexican Infrastructure Project Sets The Stage For Long-term Trade

With funding from the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council, the U.S Grains Council’s (USGC’s) Mexico office partnered with the Sonora Swine Association in Obregon to expand their rail car unloading facility by installing two hard car unloaders, removing a serious bottleneck to unloading rail cars of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and soybean meal shipped from the United States.

In 2018, the Missouri Corn Promotion Board provided funding for a hard car unloader (known as a stinger) to aid the discharging of DDGS into the Association’s shuttle facility. The hard car unloading technology included the installation of two probes that allow constant mixing and moving of the DDGS, speeding up the rail car unloading process. This system allows rail cars to unload in as little as 15 minutes and reduces the number of employees needed for unloading from six to two.

The Sonora Pork Producers Association supported the project by expanding its shuttle facility and purchasing a second stinger with their funding. This joint venture signified a collaborative approach to guaranteeing purchases of DDGS and soybean meal from the United States.

The project was funded by the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the Sonora Swine Association, with both sides contributing a total of $250,000 of industry, third-party funds to the larger Council-sponsored project. In March 2019, the Missouri Corn Board traveled to Sonora to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of understanding and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

With this investment in place, the U.S. Grains Council was able to promote the opportunity to use DDGS and SBM with members of the Swine Association and other local livestock associations. Obregon is a strategic rail access point from the United States, and livestock operations in the region are growing production at a rate of 4-5 percent per year.

Due to high DDGS pricing and operational issues during the startup, the facility has only been used so far to import 100,000 MT of soybean meal from the United States. The Council anticipates DDGS will soon join the list of products discharged at this facility, however, and recognizes that these new sales of SBM were brought about by the U.S. industry investing together with the Mexican industry for their mutual benefit. By encouraging the investment of a long-lasting grain unloading infrastructure, the Council guarantees sales in DDGS and soybean meal from the United States.

This targeted marketing and promotion program resulted in direct sales between U.S. suppliers and Mexican buyers. The Council invested $7,000 of MAP funds to run co-product promotion programs in 2018/2019 in Sonora, with sales (of soybean meal) as a direct result valued at $35,000,000 and a net return on investment (ROI) of $4,999 per $1 of MAP funds invested.