A culinary and cultural staple in crisis

Tortilla prices have tripled or quadrupled in some parts of Mexico since last summer. On Jan. 18, Calderon announced an agreement with business leaders capping tortilla prices at 78 cents per kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, less than half the highest reported prices. The president’s move was a throwback to a previous era when Mexico controlled prices — the government subsidized tortillas until 1999, at which point cheap corn imports were rising under the NAFTA trade agreement. It was also a surprise given his carefully crafted image as an avowed supporter of free trade.

“There are certainly some contradictions in Calderon’s positions here,” said Arturo Puente, an economist at the National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research in Mexico City.

Washington Post