Mexican exports slow down in November with an 8% rise

Las mexican exports of merchandise slowed down in November, totaling 49,311.3 million dollars, an interannual increase of 8%, reported this Friday the Inegi.

From January to October of the current year, foreign sales from Mexico had registered an increase of 19.5 percent.

With the new result, exports accumulated an amount of 528,870.4 million dollars, an advance of 18.3%, year on year.

Considering its two large divisions, oil sales were 2,476.5 million dollars in November (-10.4%, at an annual rate), while non-oil sales were estimated at 46,834.7 million dollars (+9.2 percent).

Conversely, Mexican imports were 49,407.4 million dollars in November, which represents an increase of 8.1% year-on-year and leads to a deficit of 96.1 million dollars.

Cumulatively, foreign purchases totaled 556,275.6 million dollars in the first 11 months of the year, an increase of 21.3% at the annual rate, while Mexico reported a deficit in its trade balance of 27,405.1 million dollars in the same period.

In November 2022 and with seasonally adjusted figures, total merchandise exports showed a monthly decrease of 1.50%, reflecting decreases of 0.81% in non-oil exports and 12.23% in oil exports.

Conversely, also with seasonally adjusted series, total imports registered a monthly reduction of 4.55%, derived from declines of 3.52% in non-oil imports and 12.97% in oil imports.

In the eleventh month of 2022, exports of manufactured products amounted to 44.275 million dollars, which represented an annual increase of 10 percent.

The most important growths were observed in exports of professional and scientific equipment (20.4%), machinery and special equipment for various industries (15.4%), electrical and electronic equipment and appliances (13.6%), food, beverages and tobacco (11%) and automotive products (9.6 percent).

In turn, the annual increase in exports of automotive products was derived from increases of 8.4% in z and 14.8% in those directed to other markets.

In November 2022, the value of oil exports was 2,477 million dollars. This amount was made up of 2,207 million dollars of crude oil sales and 270 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 79.32 dollars per barrel, a figure lower by 1.96 dollars compared to the previous month, but higher by 4.99 dollars than that of November 2021.

Regarding the volume of crude oil exported in the reference month, it stood at 0.927 million barrels per day, lower than the level of 0.987 million barrels per day in October and the level of 1.025 million barrels per day in November 2021.

In the penultimate month of the current year, the value of agricultural and fishing exports was 1,791 million dollars, an amount that implied an annual fall of 5.7 percent.

The most important reductions were registered in exports of mango (59.1%), fish, crustaceans and molluscs (28.4%), frozen shrimp (27.4%), avocado (19.9%) and pepper (16.1%). In contrast, the most relevant annual increases occurred in exports of cattle (74.1%) and tomato (12.3%).

roberto.morales@eleconomista.mx