Harvesting of the 1996 wheat crop has been completed. Output is preliminarily estimated at 3.3 million tons, compared to last year’s below average crop of 3.5 million tons. The decline, for the second consecutive year, is due to extremely dry, hot weather, which has significantly depleted water reservoirs in main irrigated areas in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua and Baja California in the north-west. In order to meet domestic demand, wheat imports in the first 4 months of the year alone are estimated at 538 000 tons, which represents 45 percent of imports in 1995. Total imports are provisionally forecast to increase from 1.3 million tons to 1.8 million tons.
Planting of the 1996 maize crop is about to be completed. Early estimates indicate that production should be between 16.5 and 17 million tons, largely depending on the extent of the area planted to maize since mid-June, as sowing was delayed because of drought. Sorghum output is provisionally forecast at between 5 and 5.5 million tons, contingent upon the state of the crops in the state of Tamaulipas, which accounts for almost 40 percent of domestic sorghum production. Recent light rains have brought soil moisture relief to the crop which had been affected by a severe drought. Maize imports in the first 6 months of 1996 alone are estimated at 3.5 million tons, compared to 800 000 tons during the same period in 1995 when a total of 2.6 million tons were imported.