Mexico‘s port infrastructure would be insufficient if it were to stop importing corn from the United States, according to Baker Institute in a report.
The facts: Mexico has a high degree of complementarity in agricultural trade with the United States.
While Mexico exports mostly fruits and vegetables to the U.S. market, the U.S. exports grains and oilseeds to the Mexican market.
Corn imports to Mexico
As for corn, Mexico is highly dependent on corn imports from the United States, but these purchases are primarily of yellow corn, which is used for livestock feed and to produce cereals, starches and other processed products.
After the Mexican government issued a decree to prevent imports of GM corn for human consumption, its U.S. counterpart requested a dispute settlement panel under the Mexico-U.S.-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Since then, the U.S. government has also reiterated its concerns about the possibility of this restriction being extended to imports of yellow corn and has questioned the scientific basis on which Mexico argues that the consumption of this genetically modified product can harm human health.
The Baker Institute report states that Mexico currently lacks sufficient port infrastructure to replace U.S. corn imports with grain from Argentina, Brazil, Russia or Ukraine, even assuming adequate supplies are available.
Port infrastructure
In 2023, Mexico produced 27 million 549,918 tons of corn and imported 19 million 463,561 tons.
Of these total foreign purchases, 95.7% originated in the United States and the rest in Brazil, South Africa, Chile and Argentina.
Mexican corn imports from the United States, in thousands of tons, are presented below:
- 2019: 14,518
- 2020: 14,525
- 2021: 16,840
- 2022: 15,435
- 2023: 18,619
- January-July 2023: 10,610
- January-July 2024: 14,317
More than 90% of the corn acres grown in the United States are genetically engineered (GE). In contrast, Mexico does not allow commercial production of GE corn. This decision followed a federal court ruling in 2013.
In addition, the United States excels in the production and export of GE yellow corn. On the other hand, Mexico focuses mainly on white corn, in which it tends to be self-sufficient. This type of corn is used to make foods such as tortillas.