Kekén® is the brand name of our agro-industrial 100% Mexican-owned company. We produce, market and distribute pork in different presentations. The business is vertically integrated, from genetics, farms, Balanced feed meal plants, packing plants and our own distribution channels, which allows us to have complete control over the quality of the products we offer to consumers in Mexico and in different countries around the world.
Under our brand, we are currently the largest pork producer and export leader in Mexico. At the national level, we have distribution centers (CeDis) strategically located in the Southeast, Isthmus and center of the country, as well as our own chain of Maxicarne® stores, where we sell pork, beef and chicken products for the homes of Mexican families and small businesses.
The company’s beginnings date back to late 1991, when visionary investors decided to join forces to process and market the production of a dozen farms operated by the companies “Agroindustrias Yucatán” and “Campi”, in their pork division.
Agroindustrias Yucatán was a local company dedicated to the production of pigs in the state of Quintana Roo in partnership with ejido farmers. In 1991, it decided to start a “multi-site” pork production project in Yucatán with the goal of reaching 13,500 bellies, being one of the first systems under this model to be built in the world in which the breeding (Site 1), transition or post-weaning (Site 2) and fattening (Site 3) farms are installed on separate land to have better sanitary control of production.
Campi, on the other hand, belonged to the DESC group (a strong Mexican industrial conglomerate with companies in the consumer, chemical, automotive, and real estate sectors) and had its own chicken and egg production chain that included farms and feed plants. Also in the early 90’s, it decided to start a pork production project with the goal of having 11,000 bellies in the same multi-site scheme, also building fattening farms in a contract production scheme with ejidatarios. Both companies, independent until then, developed the projects with the support of the international genetics company Pig Improvement Company (PIC).
In 1992, both companies began construction of the farms and received imported breeding stock from the United States and Canada to stock the first farms. In this context, they agreed to join efforts, investments and quality, building a modern packing plant in the municipality of Umán in Yucatán, which would begin operations a year later and along with it, the Kekén® brand was born.
In 1994, the Umán packing plant received the Official Inspection Type (TIF) certification, which opened the doors to the possibility of exporting, as the state was internationally recognized as free of Classical Swine Fever (CSF), a pork disease that had prevented exports until then.
It was the beginning of Kekén, when the economic crisis of 1995 hit the country, a very difficult period that, however, could be overcome thanks to the intense negotiations with creditors and support from the federal government, parallel to the establishment of an enormous productive efficiency. That same year a partnership was established between “Agroindustrias Yucatán” and “Cargill” to build and operate a balanced feed meal plant exclusively for self-consumption, in the same municipality where the packing plant is located, Umán.
In 1996, the company’s officers made another decision that would be transcendental for the company’s future: the creation of the first retail and mid-wholesale meat sales points, initially called Kekén, with the objective of reaching more consumers directly.
In 1997, former independent producers in the state began to join Agroindustrias Yucatán’s primary production chain, thus forming the first private partnerships. That same year, the first exports to Japan began, after the state of Yucatán was recognized as free of CSF.
In 1999, the first points of sale were opened under the Maxicarne® brand, expanding the meat supply with other proteins (beef and chicken) for consumers and local businesses.
At the beginning of 2000, “Agroindustrias Yucatán” sold a significant share of the business to DESC Group, and in turn, DESC Group sold its chicken production business to Bachoco. With this, Kekén consolidates the entire value chain into a single company under the name of “Grupo Porcícola Mexicano S.A. de C.V.”. At the same time, an expansion project began in the Bajío region, which included production in farms in Guanajuato, Querétaro, Jalisco, Aguascalientes and points in between, reaching 25,000 bellies.
In 2001, the first “Wean-Sale” or “Wean to Finish” (WTF) contract production farms were created in the state of Aguascalientes by transporting recently weaned piglets from Yucatán to be fattened on these farms. However, after 3 years of operation in that area, it was decided to close mainly due to the strong sanitary problems in the region, keeping only the 11 WTF farms in Aguascalientes supplied with piglets from Yucatan.
Once the Bajío project was closed, the company focused again only on the Yucatán peninsula, whose production had not grown during those three years. In 2003, the company began a project to expand the Sitios 1 farms from 3,000 to 4,000 bellies each, reaching a total production inventory of 35,000 bellies.
In 2004, the packing plant in Irapuato (Guanajuato) began operations following a purchase from a local pig farmers’ association. The plant operates by outsourcing the slaughter of pigs to a third partie slaughterhouse plant, with 2,500 carcasses per week at that time. The strategic location of this plant would allow Kekén to absorb the production of farms in Aguascalientes, as well as purchase carcasses from third parties in the area and process imported pieces from the United States to maximize production capacity and strengthen the supply chain for the domestic market. That same year, the diversification of export markets began at the Umán plant, with the first meat exports to South Korea.
In 2005, Hurricane Wilma severely affected the farm facilities located in Quintana Roo, leading to the decision to close in that area and concentrate production in the state of Yucatán.
In 2007, DESC Group spun off its real estate division to form DINE and KUO, which brings together the consumer, chemical and automotive businesses. Kekén becomes part of the Consumer unit.
In 2008, a new era in the history of Kekén would begin with the modernization of infrastructure, as well as the expansion of its entire value chain in an initial 5-year project (2010-2015). Up to that time, Maxicarne stores had been strongly positioned in the states of the peninsula with 140 stores and export markets continued to be focused mainly on Japan and South Korea.
The following are the most relevant chronological milestones of this growth stage:
- Between 2011 and 2012, the Umán packing plant (TIF No 152) is modernized by expanding process areas and incorporating state-of-the-art technology for freezing with 2 carton freezer systems and carbon dioxide stunning system (pioneers in Mexico with such technology).
- 2012 to 2015 – Export markets diversified by obtaining permits to start selling products to the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cuba, Chile and China (TIF Plant No. 152). Export volumes increased from 13,000 tons/year to 34,000 tons/year in 2015.
- 2015 – Completed the incorporation of 195 new Maxicarne stores, initiating expansion into the Isthmus, Gulf and Central Mexico, totaling 335 stores by the end of 2015.
The 2010 – 2015 growth plan achieved the consolidation of the company’s entire value chain and positioned Kekén as a leader in swine production and pork sales in Mexico. At the same time, the company’s good economic results positioned it as one of the most profitable companies in Kuo, increasing the confidence of investors and with it the injection of resources to continue growing over the next 5 years.
Thus, starting in 2015, a new goal was set to double sales, based mainly on improvements in production efficiencies in farms, increased meat processing capacity and increased sales volumes focused on the growth of Maxicarne store segments and the Asian export market, especially China and Japan. At the same time, we also began to give a strong impetus to sustainability based on robust conservation and environmental care programs, community relations and empowering the talent of our employees. Below are the most relevant chronological milestones of this last stage (2016 – Today):
- In 2016, Kekén acquired all of its partner Cargill’s shares in the Umán Balanced feed meal plant in order to guarantee and optimize the supply of balanced feed to farms.
- 2017 to 2018 – The construction of the “Sahé Packing Plant” began in the municipality of Tixpéhual in Yucatán with a capacity to process 24,000 pigs per week. In 2018, the plant starts operating with TIF No. 712 certification and is enabled to export to the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
- 2018 – Construction is completed on a new genetic transfer farm (Xaya) in the municipality of Tekax, Yucatán with capacity for 32,000 animals. In the same year, construction of 2 new farms of 6,000 commercial bellies begins.
- 2019 – As a result of the shortage of pork supply in China due to the reduction of almost 50% of the pig population due to the entry of African swine fever, Kekén began a plan to redirect its sales to that country to take advantage of the competitive advantages in price over products with low labor demand for their production.
- 2020 – The company suffers a hard blow after a fire that almost completely consumed the Sahé Plant, which up to that time was processing 22,000 pigs per week in a complex environment associated with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The situation generated a restructuring of the strategic objectives of the business, enabling a third shift in the Umán plant, opening new market niches and maximizing exports to China with simple cuts, all of the above hand in hand with a strong health protection program for our employees, which allowed us to maintain uninterrupted operations. The reconstruction of the plant began 4 months after the accident and at the same time the modernization of the Irapuato plant was started to enable it for the export market.
- In 2021, with the reconstruction of the Sahé plant and the upgrades of the Irapuato plant underway, the 2 farms of 6,000 sows that had been stopped as a result of the disaster began to be populated, achieving a final inventory of 87,400 sows at the end of 2021.
- The Sahé plant resumed operations at the end of 2021, once again obtaining its TIF certification and approvals to export to the United States, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong. The expansion of the Irapuato plant was also completed, obtaining TIF expansion certification and approvals to export to the United States, Canada and Japan.
