Mexico reached a record in its exports of products to the United States in April and also in its market share in total imports of goods to that country during the first four months of 2024, as reported by the Census Bureau this Thursday.
In April, Mexican product exports grew 13.2% year-on-year, totaling 43,066 million dollars, demonstrating above-average dynamism, since total imports to the US market increased 8.5%, reaching 271,405 million.
This progress allowed Mexico to reach a share of 15.9% in the total foreign purchases of merchandise from the United States during the first four months of the year. This level is higher than that recorded in the previous two full years, which were also historical records, with 14% in 2022 and 15.4% in 2023.
In this way, Mexico has demonstrated greater competitiveness in its exports, both in comparison with Canada, a competitor in the context of nearshoring, and with China, the largest manufacturing producer in the world and which faces a trade war with the United States.
While exports of Canadian products to the US market rose 2.7% in April, reaching $34.884 million, shipments from China fell 4.2%, totaling $31.63 billion.
Conversely, Mexico also showed greater dynamism by increasing its imports from the United States by 18.3% in April, compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching a total of 29,399 million dollars.
In general, the strength of the peso against the dollar boosted Mexican purchases from abroad in the first four months of the year.
Although Mexican imports from the United States grew by double digits, while total external purchases from that country increased by 5.6% in April, reaching 171,673 million dollars, the result for Mexico was also influenced by a calendar effect, since the Easter occurred in March this year and in April in 2023.
From January to April, Mexico remained the main trading partner for United States products (imports and exports), with a share of 16%, surpassing Canada (14.8%) and China (10.4%).
In terms of external demand and seasonally adjusted in the period from January to April 2024, the Bank of Mexico indicated that the average value in dollars of Mexican manufacturing exports showed a modest improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
This was the result of a reactivation of the non-automotive sector compared to the weakness observed during the second half of 2023. In contrast, automotive exports showed an incipient downward trend change.
According to the estimates of unit value and implicit volume indices, it is inferred that the increase in exports of non-oil goods in the first quarter of 2024 was due to an increase in volume, since the estimated price of these goods registered a moderate decline.
