Mexico imports 14.62 million mt of corn in Jan-Oct: GCMA

Mexico imported a total of 14.62 million mt of corn in the first ten months of the year, up 7.2% compared to the 13.64 million mt imported in the same period of 2020, according to the latest report from Mexican agribusiness consultancy firm Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agricolas (GCMA).

According to the GCMA report, Mexico imported 13.31 million mt of yellow corn from the US in the period, up 11.5% compared to imports of 11.94 million mt in the same period last year.

Mexico also imported 745,300 mt of white wheat from the US in the period, an increase of 50% compared to 496,700 mt in the January-October 2020 period.

Meanwhile, corn imports from South America amounted to 441,100 mt in the period, down 57.9% compared to 1.04 million mt in the year-ago period.

Mexico is expected to import a total of 17.86 million mt of corn in 2022, according to the first estimates for the new calendar year from GCMA.

Domestic corn production for 2022 is expected to reach 28.26 million mt, up 2.5% from this year's 27.57 million mt estimate with much of the gains expected to come from better weather conditions.

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

In terms of exports, Mexico shipped 2.46 million mt of white corn in the period, down 71.4% versus the same period of 2020.

Meanwhile, Mexico imported 4.69 million mt of wheat in the first ten months of the year, an increase of 24.1% versus the 3.78 million mt imported in the same period of 2020, according to GCMA.

Of that, 3.77 million mt of wheat came from the US, with another 698,200 mt from Canada, with imports also coming from France, Ukraine and Argentina.

The country also exported a total of 384,900 mt of wheat in the January-October period, down 34.9% year-on-year.

Most of the Mexican wheat is exported to Turkey, Algeria and certain Central American markets.

According to the USDA’s latest report, Mexico is expected to import 5.1 million mt of wheat in the 2021/22 cycle, up compared to imports of 4.72 million mt for the full 2020/21 cycle.