Mexico imports 9 million mt of corn in Jan-June: GCMA

Mexico imported 9 million mt of corn in the first half of the year, up 16.4% from the 7.72 million mt imported in the same period of 2020, figures from local consultancy firm Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agricolas (GCMA) show.

Imports of US yellow corn amounted to 8.33 million mt in the period, up 15.6% year-on-year, while imports of Brazilian yellow corn reached 59,600 mt in the January-June period, down 10.7% versus the same period of 2020, GCMA said.

According to GCMA, Mexico is expected to import 18 million mt of corn this year.

The country is largely self-sufficient in white corn but depends on imports of mostly GMO yellow corn from the US for livestock feed.

The Mexican government recently said that it aims to reduce imports of yellow corn by up to 2 million mt in the medium term.

According to media reports, the country's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), Víctor Villalobos Arámbula said that the increasing pace of yellow corn imports over the last years was worrying, with levels doubling in just over a decade.

Wheat imports

Mexico imported 2.7 million mt of wheat between January and June, up 18.2% compared to 2.28 million mt in the same period of 2020, according to GCMA.

Of that, the country imported 2.21 million mt of wheat from the US, with another 444,800 mt from Canada and 39,200 mt from Argentina, versus 1.64 million mt of US wheat and 489,100 mt from Canada in the same period of 2020.

In June, GCMA raised its outlook for the country’s 2021 wheat imports to 5.18 million mt due to a recovery in domestic wheat demand amid high corn prices.

Abel Rodriguez Montejo, an analyst with GCMA, had told Agricensus that domestic demand has recorded a strong recovery following the pandemic.

The analyst also said that Mexico was expected to produce 3 million mt of wheat in the 2021/22 marketing year, slightly up compared with 2.94 million mt the previous cycle.

The country is also expected to export 640,000 mt of wheat in 2021, up from 615,000 mt in 2020, according to the consultancy firm.