February 3, 2021

Mexico corn imports projected to drop 9% in 2021

Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food said the country's corn imports could drop by about 9% in 2021 as the government discourages genetically modified (GMO) grains and increase the use of local crops, Reuters reported.

Victor Villalobos, Mexico's Agriculture Minister, made the forecast at a news conference. Santiago Arguello, a senior ministry official speaking alongside the minister, said that translates to a drop of 1.5 million tonnes of grain.

Arguello said the government's agriculture planning aims to steadily lower imports.

Villalobos looked to promote the "Corn for Mexico" programme, which looks to replace 30% of Mexico's current imports with national production by 2024.

The public-private programme hopes to assist 300,000 small and medium-size Mexican con farmers. However, the government has cut much of its pledged support.

Critics in the industry said the budget cuts could result in Mexico importing more grains in the near-term.

Mexico largely imports corn from the United States, with 13 million tonnes of the commodity imported between January to November last year.

According to Mexico's agriculture ministry, the country produced 3.1 million tonnes of yellow corn and 25 million tonnes of white corn in 2020. Most of Mexico's corn imports are for yellow corn.

- Reuters