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Corn Harvest in Mexico Reaches Record 25 Million Tons
 Carlos Manuel Rodriguez - Bloomberg
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October 01, 2010
| | Reservoirs at levels above 90 percent and high corn prices will make farmers switch crops to corn from sorghum. | |
Mexico, the world’s fourth-largest producer of corn, harvested a record 24.9 million metric tons of corn this crop year and may increase output next year as steadier rainfall and new technology improve yields, said Agriculture Deputy Minister Mariano Ruiz-Funes.
Corn production may rise about 3 percent to 25.6 million metric tons in the 12 months that begin this month, Ruiz-Funes said in an interview at his Mexico City office yesterday. Mexico’s corn output gained about 3 percent in the crop year through September from the prior year, he said.
“Mexican corn producers are caring more and more about the introduction of better technology packages for their crops,” Ruiz-Funes said.
Technology such as region-specific seeds is boosting yields to produce as much as 11 tons of corn per hectare (2.5 acres) in Sinaloa in northern Mexico, Ruiz-Funes said. Increased rain is also helping farmers during the planting season, Ruiz- Funes said. The national yield average is about 2.7 tons per hectare.
“There’s going to be an explosion in corn production,” said Carlos Salazar, head of Mexico’s national corn growers association. Reservoirs at levels above 90 percent and high corn prices will make farmers switch crops to corn from sorghum, Salazar said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Surging Prices
Corn has surged 33 percent since the end of June, reaching a two-year high of $5.2875 on Sept. 27. Corn for December delivery dropped 1.4 percent to $4.8875 a bushel at 2:15 p.m. Paris time on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Mexico may produce 7.5 million tons of sorghum and 4.3 million tons of wheat this crop year, Ruiz-Funes said.
Grupo Bimbo SAB, the world’s largest bread maker, is more optimistic about sales in Mexico this year compared with last, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Servitje told investors and analysts July 22.
Mexico, the world’s second-largest importer of coarse grains, may import as much as 9 million tons of corn in 2011, Ruiz-Funes said. Japan is the world’s largest importer of course grains such as corn.
“Our expectation is to gradually reduce corn imports,” Ruiz-Funes said. Mexico, the world’s second-biggest corn buyer, may eliminate corn imports in about eight years, he said.
Domestic Shortfall
Mexico expects to cut imports by persuading farmers to plant more yellow corn instead of sorghum or white corn, Ruiz- Funes said.
Most of the country’s production is white corn, used to make staple foods such as tortillas. Mexico imports between 8 million tons and 9 million tons of yellow corn annually because domestic production isn’t sufficient to cover local demand, he said. A majority of the imported corn is from the U.S. Yellow corn is used to feed animals.
Monterrey-based Gruma SA, the world’s largest corn flour maker, sells corn, wheat flour and tortillas under the brand names Maseca, Mission and Guerrero in its two largest markets, the U.S. and Mexico.
Convincing farmers to change their planting habits may not be an easy task, according to Salazar, of Mexico’s national corn growers association.
“It’s very difficult to change farmers’ minds to stop planting the product they have planted for years,” he said. “It’s also hard to convince cattle ranchers to feed a different corn for their animals.”
The U.S. is the world’s largest corn producer followed by China and Brazil.
Editors: Robin Saponar, Jessica Brice
To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Manuel Rodriguez in Mexico City at carlosmr(at)bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts(at)bloomberg.net
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