Corn price hike fuels food costs
The humble tortilla, fundamental to Mexican nutrition and culture since before Aztec times, is at the center of a storm over rising prices that could mean trouble for new President Felipe Calderon.
Growing US demand for corn-based ethanol has led the grain to its highest prices in 10 years and pushed up costs south of the border for tortillas, the thin, flat corn patties that accompany almost every Mexican meal.
Victor Morales works at a tortilla store in central Mexico City. Sarah Meghan Lee/Bloomberg News |
Facing rising public anger and the possibility of a jump in inflation, Calderon has vowed to scour the planet to import cheaper corn and clamp down on price speculators.
Tortilla prices rose 25 percent to 10 pesos (91 cents) per kilogram last week in Mexico City, and have gone even higher in other parts of the country.
"If this goes on, there will be shortages" said Mexico City tortilla vendor Margarita Pineda, by a price chart with a new "10 peso" tag stuck on it. "Those with less money won't eat."
Every day, tens of millions of Mexicans chomp through tacos, known sarcastically as Vitamin T, made by wrapping corn tortillas around everything from beans to beef brains.
Manual laborers often eat upward of 2 pounds a day of the carbohydrate-rich staple, which plays a role similar to bread in Europe and America, and pita bread in the Middle East.
Shouting housewives
On Thursday the president vowed to search the world to find cheaper grain imports after housewives shouted at him as he visited poor neighborhoods, demanding he address the price rises.
Calderon "is not fulfilling his campaign promises to lower prices," said opposition leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Some economists fear that Mexico will be hit by higher inflation if the cost of corn and tortillas fails to come down. Inflation was just above 4 percent last year.
Mesoamerica a region that includes parts of modern Mexico and Central America is considered the birthplace of corn by many archeologists, and some date its earliest cultivation in Mexico as far back as 9,000 years ago.
'Aztec inheritance'
"Corn is our inheritance from the Aztecs and it is hugely important to us," said Pineda, 57, whose tortilla outlet was opened by her grandparents in the 1930s.
Corn, soaked in water to soften it, mixed with lime to release important nutrients and then pounded flat, is as much a part of the Mexican identity as the chili or tequila.
It is fried, steamed and boiled into dozens of foods and drinks and is considered sacred by most Mexican Indian cultures.
Some US-born Mexican, or Chicano, artists have gone as far as adopting the tortilla as a canvas to paint on.
The government said it will probe the corn market for any possible price manipulation.
Several large companies, such as Mexico's Gruma and US agri-food group Cargill Inc, play important roles in the Mexican corn trade.
Mexico also announced new corn import quotas on Friday totaling 650,000 tons to try and lower costs.
Car parts salesman Angel Juarez, 52, said the government's actions were right, but too late.
"They should have seen this coming, they need to know the market," he said, tucking into an early-morning taco of tortilla filled with meat from a cow's head.
Agencies
(China Daily 01/16/2007 page16)
