USDBC Delegates meet with Colombian & Peruvian Buyers

During a USDBC November 9-13, 2020 “virtual” trade mission, five delegates held Zoom meetings with ten importers in Colombia and four importers in Peru. While not a replacement for in-person meetings and the in-depth fact-finding that takes place during trade missions, the on-line sessions gave insights into market conditions, strengthened relationships, and resulted in a half dozen trade leads. Importers welcomed the information about the US harvest and bean types and had positive views of in terms of quality, consistency, relationships with US suppliers, and USDBC promotions and technical support.

Colombian importers reported that (1) they bought black, LRKBs and cranberry beans from Argentina this summer; (2) domestic summer harvests were good and the highly favored cargamento rojo bean is very low priced, which lowers the prices for other bean types and reduces import demand; (3) the outlook for the December-January harvests is promising; and (4) January would be a good time to check for buying interest. Trade leads were sent for companies that were seeking beans for delivery in the next couple months. Dry bean demand was higher April through July as people increased purchases for home consumption due to pandemic-related movement restrictions.

In Peru, demand for beans increased since the start of the pandemic particularly since the government increased purchases for food assistance. Canario/mayocoba beans are most popular and the country regularly requires imports, relying mainly on Mexico and buying from the US and Canada as well. The top product supplied by the US continues to be navy beans, which are mainly sold to the government. While Argentina and Bolivia are regional suppliers of black beans and DRKBs, the US can also be a source.