The Transnational Corn Market

ByAna de Ita

This article by Ana de Ita originally appeared in the December 23, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

The Mexican corn market is increasingly controlled by transnational corporations. While farmers had to protest on highways and international bridges at the end of this year demanding fair prices for their corn and other staple grain crops, corporations have continued to import it.

Free trade agreements are tools used by transnational corporations to erase borders and operate in multiple countries, taking advantage of the various benefits offered by each. As a result of the implementation of the old NAFTA, commodity trading companies and several of the companies that use these grains as inputs established subsidiaries in Mexico and, without state regulation, are increasingly controlling the country’s basic food market.

Total corn imports are projected to reach nearly 20 million tons by October 2025 and could end the year at around 23.6 million tons. Archer Daniels Midland, Bartlett, and Cargill, global agribusiness giants, account for almost half of all white and yellow corn imports, having collectively imported 9.7 million tons by October 2025.

Altagracia Gómez Sierra is the head of Grupo Minsa, the family firm which enriched itself over decades from the fruits of dubious privatizations and the bank bail-out FOBAPROA, and is now a close economic advisor to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

These corporations influence international prices through both real and speculative movements. All three grew and strengthened by taking advantage of the market vacuum left by CONASPUO and the complete liberalization of agriculture brought about by NAFTA and the USMCA. Imports of white corn reached 839,000 tons by October, competing directly with domestic production and putting downward pressure on prices. Cargill “de México” absorbed the largest volume of white corn imports, 215,000 tons, equivalent to 26 percent of the total, while 200,000 tons of Sinaloa’s fall-winter harvest remain unsold.

In 2004, Cargill purchased a bulk cargo terminal in Veracruz to receive its imports. It sells only to large buyers. It supplies flour mills, including Maseca and Minsa, which can also import directly, as well as large mills that produce nixtamalized corn dough for tortilla factories. In 2025, Minsa did not import any corn directly, and Maseca imported only 23,200 tons. Cargill has its own brand of corn flour, Optimasa.

Cargill can also buy corn directly from Mexican farmers, but it uses the international price as a benchmark and leverages its import capabilities to negotiate more effectively. In the yellow corn market, Cargill accounts for approximately 7 percent of total imports, with 1.4 million tons purchased from Cargill International. Bachoco, Campi, and SuKarne import directly, but also through Cargill de México or ADM México.

Cargill has established itself in the country as the leading integrated grain trading company. ADM, for its part, defines itself as being involved in the transformation of natural products into ingredients, producing oils, thickeners, sweeteners, probiotics, biofuels, and other products from staple grains and oilseeds. It also distributes its corn imports to other companies that use it as an input. Bartlett Logistic de México is a low-profile company located in Aguascalientes, a subsidiary of Bartlett Grain Company. It is a leading exporter of U.S. grains.

It imported 5.4 million tons of corn to Mexico through October of this year, representing 27 percent of the total, a concerning level of concentration. It is responsible for 18 percent of imported white corn. This year, it opened a rail bulk terminal in Nuevo León.

Unlike Cargill, it can supply smaller companies or mills and does not engage in processing. Its main strength lies in the import of yellow corn, at 5.3 million tons. The control of the corn market by transnational corporations makes it essential for the State to establish checks and balances in favor of producers and consumers. The agreement between the government and the National Front for the Rescue of the Countryside on a mechanism for pledging grain harvests is a first step in the right direction.

Farmers will receive credit secured by their harvest, allowing them to meet their financial obligations without having to sell their produce at a loss and while waiting for better market conditions. Furthermore, by removing a significant volume of grain from the market, this will help manage supply and contribute to higher prices.

The government will cover storage costs and interest. Farmers will be able to negotiate better terms with buyers. Furthermore, the government will begin building a technical grain reserve to guarantee the country’s food security.

Ana de Ita is Director of the Center for Studies on Change in the Mexican Countryside