Mexico made its largest single day purchase of U.S. corn this week buying 73.5 million bushels. Around two-thirds are for this marketing year, and the other third for the next marketing year. So far this month Mexico has bought more than 2.6 mmt or 104.2 million bushels of U.S corn.
Is it a coincidence Mexico has been on a buying spree since the government announced their ban on GMO corn would start in 2024?
Market analyst Joe Vaclavik with Standard Grains says he doesn’t think so, and he’s skeptical about the ban: “Yeah, buy it before you ban it, I guess? I have a lot of questions, as do a lot of traders, regarding this potential ban of GMO imports. I don’t know how they’re going to replace the 600 million bushels of corn they buy from the U.S. in a given year. They have claimed they have some sort of plan to do so through U.S. non-GMO growers and corn that would be sourced elsewhere. I just find it really, really hard to believe.”
Vaclavik says his sources tell him the GMO ban is politically motivated and Mexico is using it for some sort of trade leverage.
