Last July , Mexico’s trade balance registered a deficit of 5,959 million dollars, according to timely information from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography ( Inegi ).
Exports in that month reached a value of 46,504 million dollars, representing an annual growth of 13.6%. Of this total, the majority were exports of non-oil products, worth 42,581 million dollars.
Despite the annual growth, total exports showed a monthly reduction of 0.26%, the net result of a drop of 6.05% in oil exports and an increase of 0.24% in non-oil exports.
Thus, a trade deficit of 18.904 million dollars was reached for the January-July period.
Within non-oil exports, an increase of 15.8% was observed during the first seven months of the year, compared to the same period in 2021. 82.3% of these exports went to the United States and 24.71% of the total came from the industry. automotive.
In fact, exports of automotive products showed an annual growth of 9.5% in July.
Rise in imports of intermediate goods
On the other hand, imports grew 16.7% annually during July, with a variation of 10.8% in non-oil imports and 63.8% in oil imports.
And, by type of good, imports of consumer products advanced 37.1%; those of intermediate goods, 13.9% and those of capital goods, 13.8%.
Thus, total imports from Mexico during July reached a value of 52,464 million dollars.
It is worth highlighting a 77.8% increase in the import of oil consumer goods, such as gasoline, butane gas and propane.
” High imports of oil and non-oil consumer goods fueled the deterioration of the country’s trade balance , with a deficit above expectations. Going forward, we expect a competitive exchange rate and gradual easing of frictions that have been affecting several manufacturing supply chains support Mexican exports, even if these are mitigated by softer global and US external demand,” said the Goldman Sachs financial group.
Although, in reality, the bulk of imports are of intermediate use goods, that is, those that will undergo a transformation within Mexican industries, before reaching a final product. These imports represent 79% of the total and had an annual increase of 13% during July.
With information from Reuters.