Agriculture and Commodity Markets in Mexico

With 1.9 million square kilometers of national territory, almost three times the state of Texas, Mexico is the fourteenth largest country in the world. Furthermore, Mexico is the third largest country in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Mexico’s territory presents a variety of climates, from tropical to desert, and contains valuable mineral resources and commodities, such as petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, and natural gas. Similarly, one of the world’s most important agricultural commodities, corn, is originally from Mexico. This article explores the status of agricultural commodity markets in Mexico.

Agriculture and Commodity Markets in Mexico

Even though agriculture only represents 4% of Mexico’s overall economy, the agricultural sector employs more than 13% of the nation’s labor force. Amongst Mexico’s leading agricultural commodity crops, there is wheat, with a total area of harvest that has exceeded the 700.000 hectares throughout the last several years. Likewise, Mexican wheat production has increased from approximately 3.7 million metric tons during 2014/15 to almost 3.8 million in 2015/16 and an expected output of 3.9 million metric tons for 2016/17. In terms of trade, Mexico is a net importer of wheat, with an average 4.6 million metric tons imported annually, of which some 3 million metric tons come from the United States. Meanwhile, Mexico only exported 1.1 million metric tons of wheat during 2014/15, 1.6 million in 2015/16, and is forecast to export 1.5 million metric tons for 2016/17.

When it comes to corn, Mexico is a major producer and consumer of this agricultural commodity, not only as a food product, but also for animal feed. Therefore, given that corn is a staple food item of the Mexican diet, the country is also a net importer of corn. Throughout the last several years, Mexico has devoted well over 7 million hectares of land to corn production. Similarly, between 2014 and 2017, Mexico’s annual corn output has been of approximately 26 million metric tons. In terms of trade, Mexico imported some 11 million metric tons of corn during 2014/15, 14 million in 2015/16, and is expected to import more than 13 million metric tons of corn during 2016/17, mainly from the US. On the other hand, Mexico only exported 800.00 metric tons of corn in 2014/15, followed by 1.6 million during 2015/16 and the export forecast for 2016/17 is of approximately 1 million metric tons of corn.

Another crop grown in Mexico is rice, accounting for some 40.000 hectares of land devoted to its production every year. On average, Mexico produces more than 160.000 metric tons of milled rice annually and imports some additional 700.000 metric tons, all of it for domestic market consumption.

Finally, Mexico is also a producer and net importer of sorghum. On average, the country allocates some 1.7 million hectares to sorghum production on a yearly basis. Furthermore, Mexico’s sorghum production throughout the last several years has been of 6 million metric tons annually. In regards to trade, Mexico imported some 29.000 metric tons of sorghum in 2014/15, another 660.000 metric tons in 2015/16, and is expected to import about 1 million metric tons during 2016/17, almost exclusively from the US. Meanwhile, Mexico does not export sorghum.

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