Mexico’s incoming administration will discard a core goal of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aka AMLO, to reduce imports of yellow corn, according to incoming agriculture minister Julio Berdegue. He told Reuters Mexico will focus on maintaining self-sufficiency in white corn, which is commonly used in the country’s staple tortilla.
AMLO aimed to limit the use of GM corn, a position that sparked an ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., by far Mexico’s largest commercial trading partner. The outgoing administration had already walked back its GM-corn ban to restrict it only for human consumption.
Mexico will likely have to continue importing large amounts of yellow corn, said Berdegue, due to the increased demand in the livestock sector as Mexicans’ appetite for meat products grows.
