While the majority of Mexico’s export revenue comes from products shipped to the United States, earnings from Mexican exports to Canada have increased at a faster rate in recent years, hitting a record of more than $9 billion in the first half of 2024.
Canada has thus become an increasingly important trade partner for Mexico, the world’s 12th largest economy.
Economy Ministry (SE) data shows that Mexico’s export revenue from products sent to Canada increased 17.2% annually in 2021; 19.3% in 2022; and 15.6% in 2023.
The growth figure for last year is significantly higher than the 4.6% increase in earnings from exports sent to the United States, although it should be noted they were worth an impressive US $475.6 billion, allowing Mexico to dethrone China as the top exporter to the world’s largest economy.
The growth in earnings from Mexican exports shipped to Canada continued in the first six months of 2024, increasing 9.5% annually to reach $9.19 billion, a new record for the period.
While that amount only accounts for just over 3% of Mexico’s total export revenue between January and June, Canada was Mexico’s second largest market for exports in the first half of the year, behind the United States.
As is the case with Mexico-United States trade, trade between Mexico and Canada is governed by the USMCA, the North American free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.
What does Mexico export to Canada?Â
Mexico’s top exports to Canada in 2023 were all manufactured in the country’s vast automotive sector.
According to the SE, Mexico’s No. 1 export to Canada last year was cars, followed by transport vehicles, auto parts, engines and tractors.
Among the other products Mexico exports to Canada are medical instruments, fruit and alcoholic beverages.
The total value of Mexico’s exports to Canada last year was a record high $18.01 billion, according to the SE.
How much does Mexico spend on Canadian imports?
SE data shows that Mexico imported Canadian products worth $13.21 billion in 2023.
Mexico thus recorded a trade surplus of $4.89 billion with Canada last year.
The value of Mexico’s imports from Canada in 2023 was also a record high, as was the size of Mexico’s trade surplus with its USMCA partner.
In the first six months of this year, Canadian imports were worth $6.66 billion. Meanwhile, Canada’s share of Mexico’s market for imports in the period was 2.19%.
Mexico’s trade surplus with Canada in the first half of the year was $2.52 billion.
What does Mexico import from Canada?Â
According to the SE, Canada’s most lucrative exports to Mexico in 2023 were auto parts, chemical reactants and accelerants, motor vehicles, meat, wheat and aluminum.
Mexico on track to set a new exports record in 2024
As MND reported last week, it appears likely that the annual value of Mexico’s global exports will exceed $600 billion for the first time ever in 2024.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported last Tuesday that the value of Mexican exports in the first seven months of the year was $354.17 billion, a 4.3% increase compared to the same period of 2023.
With reports from El EconomistaÂ
