Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reiterated during a November 9 news conference that his country cannot buy yellow corn from the United States because it is against importing genetically modified corn, Reuters reported. "There is a market for this, but the government cannot buy because we don't want GM," López Obrador said, according to Reuters. "We are a free and sovereign country."

López Obrador issued a presidential decree on January 1, 2021, which seeks to ban genetically modified corn in 2024 and phase out the herbicide glyphosate found in Roundup Ready corn. Mexico imports about 17 million tons of transgenic corn per year and the United States is its main supplier.

More than 90% of all corn planted in the United States is genetically modified. If Mexico meets a presidential decree banning genetically modified corn in 2024, the economic consequences would be devastating for Mexican farmers and consumers in the U.S., according to a study recently released by World Perspectives, Inc.

The study found that the U.S. corn industry would lose $3.56 billion in the first year after the total ban, followed by a loss of $5.56 billion in the second year, according to the report's estimates. Over the 10-year forecast period, the corn industry would suffer an economic loss of $13.61 billion.

During the same period, the U.S. wet corn milling industry would suffer losses of $7.65 billion and the ethanol industry would suffer a loss of $521.5 million after accounting for gains in lower GM corn prices, according to the study. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said the United States can use the USMCA trade pact to challenge Mexico's policies if necessary.

Source: Agrolink