Corn production in Mexico, the world’s third biggest importer, may be 1.5 percent larger than last year as planting expanded for the country’s main harvest, according to the United Nations.

Mexico, which harvests two corn crops a year, may produce a total of 22.4 million metric tons of the grain in 2013, up from 22.069 million a year earlier, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in an online report this week. Farmers have just finished planting the main crop, which accounts for about 70 percent of annual production. The secondary harvest, which was finished in August, was about 4.8 million tons, 13 percent smaller than in 2012 because of reduced water reserves.

Planting of the main crop "has just been completed under generally favorable weather conditions," the Rome-based FAO said. The main harvest may be 17.6 million tons, 6 percent larger than a year earlier, which "mainly reflects an increase in the area planted and government support programs providing input subsidies and credit facilities."

Mexico’s main wheat harvest, which finished in July and accounts for 90 percent of annual output, was about 3.7 million tons, 13 percent more than in 2012, the FAO said. Total wheat production was pegged at 3.75 million tons. The rice harvest at 178,000 tons was 4 percent smaller than last year because of reduced planting.

Total imports of grain in the 2012-13 season that ends September 30th will be about 14 million tons, 19 percent less than a year earlier, according to the report. Mexico’s corn imports trail only Japan and South Korea as the world’s largest. The country is the biggest buyer of rice and third largest importer of wheat from the United States, after Japan and Nigeria, according to the US Department of Agriculture.