Nallely Hernandez/Reform Agency
Tuesday, January 03, 2023 | 15:55
Mexico City.- On the eve of the next meeting between the Presidents of Mexico and the United States in the framework of the North American Leaders Summit, where Mexican restrictions on imports of transgenic corn are expected to be one of the topics on the table, in practice, the constant exchange of agri-food products unites both nations.
At the end of 2021, Mexico represented the third largest agricultural export market for the United States, with a value of 26.49 billion dollars, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Of the total, corn not only represented the input with the highest participation in exports to Mexico, but also the one that reported the highest growth in the last 10 years.
With figures between January and October of this year, only in the case of corn, the value of sales to Mexico was 4.1 billion dollars, according to information published by the Americans.
In the Mexican case, according to data from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), of the total exports of vegetables, plants, roots and edible tubers sold abroad between January and October 2022, 95.8 percent of the value came from the United States .
For the division of edible fruits and nuts, in the accumulated from January to October of last year, 92 percent of the value of exports was for purchases from the US market, according to Banxico.
According to Jorge Guajardo, executive president of Agrofibra, although agricultural issues are always the flag in political discussions, in practice, trade between the two nations does not slow down and remains constant despite the tension that may arise.
For this reason, for the manager, just as the United States is the most relevant market for fresh produce from Mexico, the national market has a high consumption of American grains.
“We estimate that out of every three tomatoes eaten in the United States, two are Mexican. It is difficult for there to be a situation that would change this type of trade agreement, because they would be hurt much more than Americans imagine.
“But on the other hand, Mexico also imports. We will be very good at eating tortillas, but we import corn. Corn and wheat come to us from the United States, there is an interesting exchange,” said the manager.
Although trade agreements such as the T-MEC and previously NAFTA have facilitated the exchange of products, for Guajardo it must be taken into account that for both nations it is “impossible” to do without food and the exchange would have to continue with higher tariffs. .
It should be remembered that in mid-December, representatives of more than 20 corn-producing states in the United States asked President Joe Biden to include the issue of restrictions on imports of transgenic corn that Mexico foresees soon.
