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Mexico | Exports
Mexico modifies its regulations on organic production to favor international trade Representatives of Mexican producers and certifiers applaud the new regulations, which will speed up harmonization with laws of the United States, Canada and the European Union. 6/17/2020
 Mexican organic grower.
The normative equivalence agreements that Mexico is currently negotiating in the area of organic food certification with the United States, Canada and the European Union (EU) can be expedited thanks to the updating of the Guidelines for the organic operation of agricultural activities, recently published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF). The new provision will also result in increased international trade in these products, said the undersecretary for Food Self-Sufficiency, Víctor Suárez Carrera. The official, who serves as president of the National Council for Organic Production (CNPO), affirmed that the Government of Mexico has a particular interest in strengthening national food production and promoting sustainable practices that protect the environment, water and soil resources, and the consumer health, in addition to improving the income of producers. "The publication of the DOF represents a positive step, since it gives an incentive to the organic supply, free of agrochemicals," said the director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Guidelines were originally published in the DOF of October 29, 2013 and since 2014 the government met in the framework of the CNPO with the representatives of organic producers and marketers with the aim of making the annual updates required by the transitory of the Guidelines. . However, "the dialogue was trapped in bureaucracy and lack of political will," said the representative of the producers in the CNPO, Homero Blas Bustamante, who is a producer of organic coffee, honey, vegetables, ginger and cardamom and president for Latin America. of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). "The most important benefit of the amendments to the Guidelines is that the regulatory equivalency agreements that are underway with the United States, Canada and the EU will be streamlined and this can reduce the cost of certification for Mexican producers," agreed Homero Blas with Undersecretary Suárez. With the harmonization of the regulations regarding our international partners, producers will be able to enter export markets with the Mexican certificate, without the need to seek additional certifications. The update of the Guidelines will come into effect in six months and during that time the negotiations with the United States, Canada and the EU will surely conclude, so we will see the benefits in imports as well as in exports soon, he stressed. He said that Mexico has 210,000 organic producers. In addition, another significant number of producers are in the process of conversion, which makes a total of approximately 500,000. “It took us six years to drive changes to the Guidelines and exercise them. Having this first update will allow us to work with greater certainty on organic production and customer service, ”said the president of the Association of Organic Certification Bodies in Mexico and member of the CNPO, Mauricio Soberanes. "The update (which implies new inspection criteria and formulas that guarantee organic quality and integrity of products) strengthens the organic chain," he said. The executive director of Certimex and representative of certification bodies at the CNPO, Taurino Reyes, highlighted that organic production is dynamic and therefore international legislation is constantly being modified, so the changes in the Guidelines are beneficial. He said that the update enables the producers themselves to prepare their inputs for pest and disease control, although this point is still susceptible to adjustments and precision. According to the report The World of Organic Agriculture; Statistics and Emerging Trends 2019, from IFOAM, Mexico ranks third in number of organic producers, with 210,000, after India (with 835,000) and Uganda (210,352). Mexico figures in leadership positions at the global level as a producer and exporter of coffee and honey, and also as a producer of vegetables, citrus and tropical and subtropical fruits. In organic matters, the United States is Mexico's main trading partner, and our country exported more than $ 278 million in 2017 and imported $ 133 million. Mexico ranks 13th in the world and fourth in Latin America in terms of organic area. According to IFOAM Latin America, Mexico has one million 966,274 hectares of organic production from agriculture and wild collection.
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