Mexico's exports fell 1% year-on-year in August, hit by declines of 26.6% in the oil industry and 3.3% in the automotive industry.
Mexico's exports fell 1% year-on-year in August, hit by declines of 26.6% in the oil industry and 3.3% in the automotive industry, the Inegi reported on Friday.
As a result, total product exports from Mexico fell to US$51,915.5 million, oil exports to US$2,249.4 million, and automotive exports to US$16,358.4 million.
Mexico has remained the United States' main trading partner in 2024, a position it reached in 2023 in that market, to which it allocates just over 80% of its external merchandise sales.
But the US economy is likely to slow down, posing a challenge to demand for Mexican exporting companies.
Meanwhile, Mexico's total imports rose 5.7% in August to US$56.78 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US$4.868 billion.
The value of oil exports in August was US$1.723 billion in crude oil sales and US$527 million in exports of other petroleum products.
In that month, the average price of the Mexican crude oil export mix stood at US$72.24 per barrel, US$2.62 lower than the previous month and US$4.64 lower than in August 2023.
Regarding the volume of crude oil exported, this stood at 0.769 million barrels per day in the reference month, a level lower than that of 0.817 million barrels per day in July and that of 1.112 million barrels per day in August 2023.
According to the Bank of Mexico, as of the second quarter of 2024, between April and May, Mexico supplied 16.5% of the external demand for manufactured goods in the United States, which represented an annual increase of 0.7 percentage points.
During the second quarter, Mexican trade flows benefited from increased external demand, mainly from the United States, due to the recovery of industrial production in sectors linked to Mexican exports, as well as increased sales of light vehicles in the United States.
Merchandise imports, for their part, grew due to the dynamism of the domestic market, such as the strong demand for capital and consumer goods.
From January to July 2024, U.S. imports of goods grew at a year-over-year rate of 4.6%, while Mexico's total exports increased 4.3 percent.
In August 2024, the decline in the value of Mexican merchandise exports resulted from a 26.6% decrease in oil exports and a 0.6% increase in non-oil exports.
Within non-oil exports, those directed to the United States advanced 2.2% at an annual rate and those channeled to the rest of the world decreased 7.7 percent.
In the reference month, exports of manufactured products amounted to US$ 47,431 million, which represented an annual growth of 0.6 percent.
The most significant increases were observed in exports of machinery and special equipment for various industries (15.5%), mining and metallurgical products (4.2%), professional and scientific equipment (4.1%) and food, beverages and tobacco (3.3 percent).
Automotive exports, meanwhile, registered an annual decline of 3.3%, reflecting a 0.7% drop in sales to the United States and a 17.4% drop in sales to other markets.
In the eighth month of this year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was US$ 1,431 million, an amount that implied an annual decline of 2.0 percent.
The most significant reductions were recorded in exports of fruits and edible nuts (29.2%), citrus fruits (17.6%), fish, crustaceans and molluscs (13.5%), peppers (10.7%) and fresh vegetables and legumes (6.3 percent).
In contrast, the most significant annual increases were seen in cattle exports (37.8%) and tomatoes (16.4%). Extractive exports stood at US$ 803 million, with an annual increase of 3.8 percent.
