Pochteca has a significant presence in 10 countries in Latin America. What is the role and importance of Mexico within Pochteca’s regional operations?

Mexico represents around 50% of our sales and it´s where our headquarters and corporate staff are based.

What are the primary trends that you have observed within the Mexican chemical industry in 2022?

In most of the more than 40 industrial segments that we serve, we observe that customers and suppliers  increasingly prefer to turn to distributors such as Pochteca as partners in the supply of  their raw materials, chemical products and ingredients. Distributors reduce the total cost of ownership for customers and the cost to serve for manufacturers.  Some of the value-added services that distinguish us  are specialized logistics, inventory management systems, efficient small-order processing, technical support, application development, training, product packaging and blending, waste management, and other environmental solutions.

Digital transformation is also a key trend.  Pochteca is continuously innovating with new tools.

Caring for the environment is a current concern. Therefore distributors like Pochteca are focused on developing environmental awareness and participating in the circular economy. We are investing in personnel and infrastructure to offer environmentally friendly solutions, waste management and introducing environmentally friendly and healthy products to our portfolio.

Nearshoring and reshoring is reshaping the Mexican chemical industry. How are you taking advantage of the influx of business?

Mexico offers attractive opportunities to North American companies for their nearshoring and reshoring strategies. Our privileged geographical location close to the United States, Central and South America, availability of natural resources, skilled labor, and multiple free trade agreements offer a competitive and reliable manufacturing base for multinational and Mexican companies. Many industrial customers that are expanding their operations or building new facilities in Mexico are turning to Pochteca to guarantee a reliable supply of the chemicals, raw materials and ingredients that will be used in their plants.

Pochteca has 15 quality and application laboratories in Mexico alone. What is your approach to innovation?

Our labs add value to our customers and suppliers in two key areas: optimization and innovation. Our application labs in food, oil and gas, mining, coatings and household and personal care work with our upstream and downstream partners in the supply chain to make applications of current products more efficient and also to test new products that can substitute current ones and lower costs, reduce carbon footprint or contribute to health and safety. We optimize formulations, extend product shelf life, improve appearance or texture and help our clients   comply with new legislation.

How have you continued digitalizing over the past year and what do you see as the future of technology in the distribution sector?

Pochteca is transforming its digital ecosystem optimizing current operations and innovating in the way we interact with our stakeholders. Artificial Intelligence, big data analytics, cloud based systems and integrated software applications that retrieve information from the same data lakes in an efficient way are key in order to optimize end to end processes and improve decision making.

We believe that the successful chemical distributor of the future needs to be truly digital and Pochteca is investing heavily to be at the forefront of this trend.

Pochteca was recently recognized for best practices in Comprehensive Waste Management. Could you elaborate on your approach to sustainability?

ANIQ recognizes companies that comply in an outstanding way with the execution of the institutional SARI (Sistema de Administración de Responsabilidad Integral) program with  awards to Best Practices in Responsible Care/Responsible Distribution. These are also closely related to the new sustainable development goals promoted by the United Nations, in addition to other initiatives such as the circular economy.

In 2022 we had the honor of winning the recognition of COMPREHENSIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT due to our results in the Sustainable Solvent Recovery System which focuses on the recovery and recycling  of dirty solvents generated by industries that can be used again in the same or other production processes.

In addition to the solvent recovery business unit, Pochteca´s environmental solutions division offers customers comprehensive waste management, zero-waste-to landfill and coprocessing programs.

We believe that as a chemical distributor we can contribute to the reduction of the environmental impact of the chemical value chain  with programs like these.