Mexico will not be able to completely replace all the corn it imports by 2024, Deputy Agriculture Minister Victor Suarez said Wednesday, but the country hopes to reduce its purchases between 30% to 40%. Mexico is already self-sufficient in production of white corn but is highly dependent on imports for yellow corn. Suarez said Mexico is progressing “significantly” in its bid to substitute grain imports, which come almost entirely from the United States. “We are not going to be able to produce another 16 MMT of corn, which is currently imported for the livestock sector,” Suarez said.
The two countries are locked in a battle over Mexico’s imports of GMO corn from the U.S., which it hopes to phase out by Jan. 31, 2024. Officials from the two countries met earlier this week and more meetings are planned. The U.S. has threatened a challenge to Mexico’s GMO corn ban via the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement if the matter isn’t resolved.
Get the Pro Farmer market analysis and recommendations that aren’t available online when you start a subscription. View subscription options.
