After growing 16.9% in 2022, Mexican exports of goods slowed to 2.6% in 2023 and maintained a slight improvement, averaging a 3.2% increase in the first nine months of 2024.
Mexico's exports totaled US$49.6259 billion in September, with zero year-on-year growth and declines in oil and automotive shipments, Inegi reported on Monday.
While oil exports fell 44.9% to US$1,886.4 million, automotive exports fell 7.4% to US$15,421 million.
To a certain extent, the lack of economic dynamism in Mexico is a consequence of the stagnation of manufacturing production in the United States, which affects the export sector.
On the other hand, oil prices have been volatile in the wake of the conflicts in the Middle East and Libya. In September, prices fell, in part, in response to expectations of lower demand from China. This was despite the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied countries (OPEC+) to postpone the increase in its production until December.
At the same time, Mexican imports of products fell by 1.8% year-on-year to US$50.204 billion, leaving Mexico with a negative trade balance of US$578.9 million in September.
After growing 16.9% in 2022, Mexican exports of goods slowed to 2.6% in 2023 and maintained a slight improvement, averaging a 3.2% increase in the first nine months of 2024.
In September, on a seasonally adjusted basis, total merchandise exports showed a monthly decline of 0.97 percent, while imports had a monthly decrease of 5.70 percent.
In nominal terms, non-oil foreign sales rose by 3.3%. Within these, sales to the United States rose by 5.0% at an annual rate and those to the rest of the world fell by 5.2%.
Exports of manufactured products amounted to US$45.261 billion, representing an annual growth of 2.6 percent.
MACHINERY AND SPECIAL EQUIPMENT LEAD ADVANCES
The largest increases were observed in exports of machinery and special equipment for various industries (34.1%), mining and metallurgical products (23.4%), paper, printing and publishing (15.7%), professional and scientific equipment (11.1%) and electrical and electronic equipment and appliances (3.5 percent).
In particular, the drop in automotive exports was due to a 2.9% drop in sales to the United States and a 31.2% drop in sales to other markets.
In September 2024, the value of oil exports was US$ 1,886 million. This amount resulted from US$ 1,383 million in crude oil sales and US$ 503 million in exports of other petroleum products.
In that month, the average price of the Mexican crude oil export mix stood at US$65.95 per barrel, US$6.29 lower than the previous month, and US$16.01 lower than in September 2023.
In the reference month, the volume of crude oil exported stood at 0.699 million barrels per day, a level lower than that of 0.769 million barrels per day in August and that of 1.156 million barrels per day in September 2023.
In the ninth month of this year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was US$ 1.512 billion, an amount that implies an annual increase of 12.5 percent.
The largest increases were recorded in exports of raw coffee beans (53.6%), avocado (34.9%), tomatoes (30.6%) and peppers (29.7 percent).
In contrast, the most significant annual declines occurred in exports of cattle (5.4%) and fish, crustaceans and mollusks (18.2 percent). Extractive exports stood at US$ 967 million, with an annual increase of 26.4 percent.
