Mexico’s exports registered a year-on-year drop of 1% in August, affected by drops of 26.6% in oil and 3.3% in automotive, Inegi reported this Friday.
With this, total product exports from Mexico fell to 51,915.5 million dollars, oil to 2,249.4 million and automotive to 16,358.4 million.
Mexico has remained the main commercial partner of the United States in 2024, a position it reached in 2023 in that market, where it allocates just over 80% of its external merchandise sales. But the US economy will foreseeably tend to slow down, representing a challenge in demand for Mexican exporting companies.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s total imports rose 5.7% in August to $56.7835 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $4.868 billion.
The value of oil exports in August resulted from crude oil sales of $1.723 billion and exports of other oil products of $527 million.
In that month, the average price of the Mexican crude oil export mix stood at $72.24 per barrel, $2.62 lower than the previous month and $4.64 lower than in August 2023.
Regarding the volume of crude oil exported, this stood, in the reference month, at 0.769 million barrels per day, a level lower than the 0.817 million barrels per day in July and the 1.112 million barrels per day in August 2023.
According to the Bank of Mexico, in 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 its industrial production in sectors linked to Mexican exports, as well as the increase in light vehicle sales in the United States. Meanwhile, merchandise imports 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-on-year rate of 4.6%, while total Mexican exports increased 4.3 percent.
In August 2024, the drop 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 directed to the rest of the world fell 7.7 percent
In the reference month, exports of manufactured products amounted to 47,431 million dollars, which represented an annual growth of 0.6 percent.
The most important increases were observed in exports of machinery and special equipment for various industries (15.5%), mining and metallurgy products (4.2%), professional and scientific equipment (4.1%) and food, beverages and tobacco (3.3 percent).
For their part, exports of automotive products registered an annual fall of 3.3%, which was a reflection of decreases of 0.7% in sales channeled to the United States and 17.4% in those directed to other markets.
In the eighth month of this year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was 1,431 million dollars, an amount that implied an annual decline of 2.0 percent.
The most important reductions were registered in the exports of fruits and edible nuts (29.2%), citrus fruits (17.6%), fish, crustaceans and mollusks (13.5%), peppers (10.7%) and fresh vegetables and legumes (6.3 percent).
In contrast, the most relevant annual increases occurred in exports of cattle (37.8%) and tomatoes (16.4%). Extractive exports were located at 803 million dollars, with an annual increase of 3.8 percent.
roberto.morales@eleconomista.mx
Exportaciones mexicanas caen 1% afectadas por las petroleras y automotrices (eleconomista.com.mx)