BGG to use new Mexico City office as springboard for Latin America expansion

20-Apr-2016 - Last updated on 21-Apr-2016 at 13:28 GMT

BGG operates an 80-acre, closed-tube astaxnathin production facility in Yunnan, China. BGG photo.

Chinese supplier BGG is taking a big step to expand the global footprint of its ingredients with recent establishment of an office in Mexico City to go along with a new European site.

BGG has been a quiet giant, but that is about to change, global marketing director Christian Artaria told NutraIngredients-USA. Artaria, who also heads up the newly opened European office in Lugano, Switzerland, joined the company earlier this earlier this year after a stint with Italian ingredients supplier Indena.

“BGG is an international company but we want to become even more international. BGG is actually the world’s largest supplier of bilberry extract and it’s one of the major producers of licorice, tocopherols and tocotrienols and it produces astaxanthin,” Artaria said. “BGG has very strong production but the name of BGG is still very hidden apart from Japan and US and where we have had solid office operations in both countries.”

Ground floor of Mexican supplements opportunity

Mexico, where BGG announced on Tuesday the appointment of Ixchel Moreno Torres as sales manager, presents an interesting opportunity, Artaria said. It’s a chance to get in on the ground floor of a potentially huge supplements market.

“The food market is quite important there with a lot of multinational companies like Dannon and also local food companies. BGG is quite strong in food ingredients like licorice and stevia. But you also have a small but growing supplement market, and up to now Mexico has not been of great interest for a lot of ingredient suppliers,” Artaria said.

Mexico is a fairly low risk country to enter, Artaria said. It has a fairly rational and easily navigated regulatory structure. And BGG already has a substantial warehouse operation in Southern California, so ingredient shipments can make their way to Mexican factories in a matter of hours, he said.

The Mexican office will also act as a platform to enter other markets in Central and South America, Artaria said. Brazil is the big brass ring to grab there, and that presents an entirely different challenge than Mexico, Artaria said.

“For me the most important market is Brazil where we are selling some ingredients already. But Brazil is really tough on the regulatory front and as we move into there in a bigger way we might look for someone to work with us locally. It’s a tough market to enter, especially if you want to bring something that’s new to the market,” Artaria said.