Monday, June 3, 2024

Mexico’s exports worth a record US $593B in 2023

The value of Mexico’s exports hit a record high in 2023, but the level of annual growth in revenue was much lower than in the previous two years.

Mexican exports were worth US $593.01 billion last year, a 2.6% increase compared to 2022, according to preliminary data published by the national statistics agency INEGI on Friday.

Cars ready for export in Veracruz
Mexico’s automotive industry was responsible for almost US $189 billion in 2023. (Shutterstock)

The 2.6% gain was well short of the 18.6% and 16.7% increases in export revenue recorded in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Those impressive figures came after the value of exports slumped 9.4% in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions took a heavy toll on industry and the Mexican economy in general, which contracted 8.5% that year.

INEGI data shows that 89% of Mexico’s export revenue last year — $528.83 billion — came from manufactured goods. About 36% of that amount came from the export of automotive sector products including vehicles and parts, while 64% came from the shipment abroad of non-auto manufactured goods such as computers and machinery.

Auto export revenue increased 14.3% in annual terms to reach $188.9 billion, while the value of non-auto goods declined 1% to $339.9 billion.

Oil was Mexico’s second biggest export earner after manufactured goods in 2023, but the revenue it brought in — $33.21 billion — accounted for just 5.6% of the country’s overall export income. Revenue from oil declined 14.8% compared to 2022.

The value of agriculture exports — a category that includes beer and other alcoholic beverages — increased 2.8% to $21.78 billion last year, while mining export revenue rose 0.2% to $9.17 billion.

INEGI said that just over 83% of Mexico’s non-oil export revenue came from shipments sent to the United States. Mexico almost certainly overtook China last year to become the United States top trade partner.

At $598.47 billion, the value of Mexico’s imports was $5.46 billion higher than export revenue. Mexico’s trade deficit was 79.7% lower than in 2022, INEGI said.

With reports from El Economista 

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