Rising tortilla prices in Mexico are not the result of increased U.S. ethanol production or U.S. corn prices, according to the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association.

Rick Tolman told grain and livestock producers meeting in central Missouri Wednesday that lots of things are being blamed on ethanol that are undeserved and one of them is the price of tortillas in Mexico.

“There’s a quarter of a cent’s worth of corn in a tortilla. You double the price of corn, it goes up to a half cent,” said Tolman. “The reality is that tortilla prices are going up in Mexico because they have a tariff rate quota system that’s a supply system. We export yellow corn, tortillas are made from white corn, they control imports of white corn. They have mismanaged that and they have supply issues. That’s why the tortilla prices have gone up, not because of ethanol.”

Tolman was in Jefferson City, Missouri for a Missouri Corn Growers Association meeting on “Profiting in the New Paradigm: Feed and Fuel Security in the Booming Ethanol Age.”

Listen to his presentation here: Rick Tolman (25:00 min MP3)