Exports from Mexico grow 16.9% and trade deficit rises 142% in 2022

Las exports of products of Mexico totaled 578,193.4 million dollars in 2022, an interannual increase of 16.9%, the Inegi reported this Friday.

In the opposite direction, imports totaled 604,614.6 million dollars, an advance of 19.6%, at an annual rate.

With this, Mexico registered a deficit of 26,421.2 million dollars, an increase of 141.5% over the negative balance of 2021.

The widening of the deficit between 2021 and 2022 originated from a decrease in the surplus of the balance of non-oil products -which went from 13,696 million dollars in 2021 to 8,481 million dollars in 2022- and from an increase in the deficit of the balance of oil products -which went from 24.635 million dollars in 2021 to 34.902 million dollars in 2022-.

The increase in exports was derived from growth of 15.8% in non-oil exports and 34.2% in oil exports.

In 2022, the value of oil exports was 39,212 million dollars, an amount greater than the 29,217 million dollars reported in 2021.

In this regard, the average price of the Mexican crude oil mix for export in 2022 was 90.20 dollars per barrel, a figure 24.89 dollars higher than the average for 2021.

For its part, the volume of crude oil exported stood at 0.968 million barrels per day, lower than the level of 1,018 million barrels per day in 2021.

The value structure of merchandise exports in 2022 was as follows: manufactured goods, 87.9%; petroleum products, 6.8%; agricultural goods, 3.7% and non-oil extractive products, 1.6 percent.

Within it, non-oil imports advanced 17.4% at the annual rate and oil imports, 37.6 percent. Structure of imports The structure of the value of imports in 2022 was as follows: goods for intermediate use, 78.7%; consumer goods, 13.3% and capital goods, 8 percent.

In December 2022, the value of oil exports was 2,844 million dollars. This was made up of 1,982 million dollars of crude oil sales and 862 million dollars of exports of other oil products.

In that month, the average price of the Mexican mix of crude oil for export stood at 69.83 dollars per barrel, a lower figure of 9.49 dollars compared to the previous month, but higher by 2.21 dollars than that of December 2021.

Regarding the volume of crude oil exported in the reference month, it stood at 0.916 million barrels per day, lower than the level of 0.927 million barrels per day in November and the level of 1.037 million barrels per day in December 2021.

In the last month of 2022, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was 2,066 million dollars, an amount that implied an annual increase of 10.2 percent.

The most important increases were registered in the exports of fresh vegetables and legumes (36%), cucumber (23.9%), tomato (11%), avocado (9%) and edible fruits and nuts (8.4 percent). .

In contrast, the most significant annual decreases occurred in exports of fish, crustaceans and mollusks (25%) and peppers (5 percent).

In turn, extractive exports stood at 893 million dollars, with an annual increase of 11.7 percent.

roberto.morales@eleconomista.mx