Mexico’s exports totaled $49,625.9 million in September, with zero year-on-year growth and falls in oil and automotive shipments, Inegi reported on Monday.
While oil exports decreased 44.9%, to $1,886.4 million, automotive exports fell 7.4%, to $15,421.0 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 registered volatility associated with the conflicts in the Middle East and Libya. In September, prices fell, in part, due to the expectation of lower demand from China. This 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 at an interannual rate of 1.8%, to 50,204.0 million dollars, so Mexico had a negative balance of 578.9 million dollars in its trade balance in September.
After growing 16.9% in 2022, Mexican exports of goods slowed to 2.6% in 2023 and maintained a slight improvement by averaging a rise of 3.2% in the first nine months of 2024.
With seasonally adjusted figures, total merchandise exports showed a monthly decline of 0.97% in September, while imports had a monthly reduction of 5.70 percent.
In nominal terms, there was a 3.3% increase in non-oil external sales. Within these, those directed to the United States advanced 5.0% at an annual rate and those channeled to the rest of the world decreased 5.2 percent.
For their part, exports of manufactured products amounted to 45,261 million dollars, which represented an annual growth of 2.6 percent.
Machinery and special equipment lead the way
The largest increases were seen 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 exports of automotive products was due to declines of 2.9% in sales to the United States and 31.2% in sales to other markets.
In September 2024, the value of oil exports was $1.886 billion. This amount resulted from $1.383 billion in crude oil sales and $503 million in exports of other oil products.
In that month, the average price of the Mexican crude oil export mix stood at 65.95 dollars per barrel, a figure lower by 6.29 dollars compared to the previous month, and by 16.01 dollars compared to that of 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 the current year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was 1,512 million dollars, an amount that implied 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 decreases occurred in exports of cattle (5.4%) and fish, crustaceans and mollusks (18.2 percent). Extractive exports stood at 967 million dollars, with an annual increase of 26.4 percent.
https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/empresas/exportaciones-mexico-estancaron-septiembre-afectadas-petroleras-y-automotrices-20241028-731789.html