According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), they were mainly affected by the manufacturing, oil and extractive industries.
Merchandise exports from Mexico registered a year-on-year drop of 5.3% in March, to US$50,752 million, affected mainly by the manufacturing, oil and extractive industries, Inegi reported today, Friday.
This result occurred after Mexican external sales grew at an interannual rate of 13% in February, their first increase at a double-digit rate in the last 13 months.
There was also a calendar effect, since Easter occurred on this occasion in March, while in 2023 it was in April.
At the same time that Mexico had a 7.1% decrease in its merchandise imports, to US$ 48,654 million, its balance in the trade balance showed a surplus of US$ 2,098 million in March 2024.
In particular, imports of capital goods fell 4.4%, their first year-on-year decline since February 2021.
Imports grew 9.7% last February and, like exports, have had ups and downs in recent months. In particular, this March there were year-on-year falls in all the main divisions, except in agriculture.
As a point of reference, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the value of global trade in goods will grow 3.3% in 2024 and 4% in 2025.
The contraction in Mexico's foreign sales in March was the result of decreases of 4.5% in non-oil exports and 21.4% in oil exports. Within non-oil exports, there were annual reductions of 2.8% in those directed to the United States and 13.1% in those channeled to the rest of the world.
Globally, average oil prices fell from US$96.36 per barrel in 2022 to US$80.59 in 2023 and the IMF projects that these will decline to US$78.61 in 2024 and US$73.68 in 2025. These quotes correspond to the average of the prices of Brent crude oil from the United Kingdom, Dubai Fateh and West Texas Intermediate.
Last March, Mexican exports of manufactured products decreased 4.5% at an annual rate. The most important reductions were observed in exports of mining and metallurgy products (22.6%), metal products for domestic use (20.6%), electrical and electronic equipment and appliances (6.8%) and automotive products. (2.4%).
The decrease in the latter was derived from the combination of a 0.9% increase in sales channeled to the United States and a 20% decline in sales directed to other markets.
At the same time, the value of oil exports was US$2,028 million. This amount was made up of US$ 1,617 million of crude oil sales and US$ 412 million of exports of other oil products.
In that month, the average price of the Mexican crude oil export mix stood at US$ 74.01 per barrel, a figure higher by US$ 2.63 compared to the previous month and US$ 9.66 higher than that of March 2023.
Regarding the volume of crude oil exported, it stood, in the reference month, at 705,000 barrels per day, lower than the level of 957,000 barrels per day in February and the level of 989,000 barrels per day in March 2023.
In the third month of the current year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was US$ 2,451 million, an amount that implied an annual growth of 6%.
The most important expansions were recorded in exports of fresh strawberries (47%), cattle (29.3%), avocado (24.2%), fresh legumes and vegetables (14.8%) and peppers. (9%).
In contrast, the most relevant annual falls occurred in exports of raw coffee beans (48.3%) and edible fruits and nuts (14.1%).
Extractive exports stood at US$ 794 million, with an annual reduction of 25.2%.
In March 2024 and with seasonally adjusted figures, total merchandise exports registered a monthly decrease of 0.19%, the result of a 24.51% drop in oil exports and a 1.28% increase in non-oil companies.
Conversely, with seasonally adjusted data, total imports reported a monthly decrease of 0.50%, which originated from a decline of 0.77% in non-oil imports and an increase of 3.07% in oil imports. .
By type of good, a reduction of 1.30% was observed in imports of intermediate use goods and monthly growth of 2.52% in imports of consumer goods and 1.08% in capital goods. .
In the first quarter of 2024, the value of total exports totaled US$ 143,430 million, which represented an annual increase of 1.7%. This rate was a net reflection of a 1.9% increase in non-oil exports and a 2.6% decline in oil exports.
