Corn production in Mexico may increase 2.6 percent from 2012 on expanded planting, according to the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization.
Mexico may harvest 22.4 million metric tons of corn in 2013, up from 21.836 million metric tons in 2013. Farmers have begun planting corn for the main spring-summer crop, which accounts for 70 percent of the country’s total output. The secondary autumn-winter crop, which is still being harvested, may be 4.8 million metric tons, 10 percent smaller than in 2012 because of frost damage in January, said the FAO.
Mexico’s grain imports in the 2012–2013 marketing year that began October 1 may drop 12 percent from 2011–2012 to about 16 million metric tons. The country bought 9.54 million metric tons of corn from the U.S. in the 2011–2012 season, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.