Mejía, who also owns three tortilla factories in the country’s capital, says that as of that year, and until now, the cost of a ton of corn has gone from 4,900 to 8,400 pesos, an increase of 71.4%. This led the microentrepreneur to raise the price of a kilo of tortilla from 14 to 20 pesos in the same period, an increase of 42.8%.
The situation forced small producers to look for alternatives. One of them, explains Mejía, was to travel to Sinaloa to buy the grain, but he found it difficult to transport corn and store it in Mexico City. Meanwhile, the rise in price has an impact on its consumption. In 2013 each inhabitant consumed between seven and eight tortillas dailythis figure was reduced to two tortillasaccording to organization data.
“Fewer and fewer people consume tortillas. People already buy a kilo or two kilos, they take what they can afford. If he has 10 pesos, he buys that, he adjusts to what his pocket allows him,” says Mejía. “This scenario of constant increases in the price of corn leads us to diversify the market; we see that entrepreneurs immediately seek to integrate other services, such as the sale of food, ”he adds.
But the rise in the price of corn is not the only impact, since there are also increases in energy like gas and water.
Marcela Martínez Pichardo, president of the National Chamber of Maize (Canami), comments that presidential decree banning glyphosate limits corn imports that contain this substance, in addition to establishing the revocation and abstention of permits for planting transgenic corn and the use of genetically modified corn grain in food, which will lead to an increase in the price of corn by 2024when it comes into force.
“The concern is that it would not only affect the tortilla, but also the 60 industrial sectors that coexist, and, not having access to a supply from abroad, we would all have to go out and compete for the grain and not only would the supply be complex, but the product would become more expensive; if today there is an inflationary issue, in 2024 it would be delicately affected and then I don’t want to imagine tortilla prices in 70 pesos”, sentence.
To deal with this, the Chamber would seek to extend the time for the entry into force of the Presidential Decree.