Following are selected highlights from a report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service post in Mexico City:
"High international commodity prices and government programs incentivizing small growers to produce basic grains are boosting Mexico's total grain production, particularly of rice and wheat. Feed grain demand is expected to continue growing in 2021 for use in the livestock and poultry sectors, although demand for grain for human consumption is forecast to grow more slowly as the Mexican economy recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2020, Mexico published a decree that calls for a transition away from the use of glyphosate and genetically-engineered corn for human consumption by Jan. 31, 2024. To date, no concrete details have been given regarding timelines for implementation or the extent to which this decree will impact Mexico's corn imports."
"Mexico's corn production forecast for MY 2021/22 (October to September) is 28.0 MMT (million metric tons), with an estimated 7.3 million hectares of harvested area, assuming normal weather conditions (i.e., adequate moisture levels) ... Post's total corn production estimates for MY 2020/21 were revised downward from the USDA/Official estimate to 27.0 MMT, due to more complete data from SADER (Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development) as of Jan. 31, 2021." "For MY 2021/22, total corn imports are forecast to increase approximately 1.8% over MY 2020/21 to 16.8 MMT, to match the relatively bullish demand for feed consumption."