According to figures from the Bank of Mexico, China’s exports to Mexico were worth US $79.48 billion between January and August 2022 – a 28% increase compared to the same period in 2021.
Bi Nu Pillai, operations manager of the Chinese company Me Orient, said that the growth of bilateral trade is a sign that Mexico is a priority for China.
After a drop of 9.54% during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Chinese exports in 2021 surpassed US $100 billion. At the time, Nikkei Asia reported that this record high represented a 50% growth from the previous five years.
According to the Ministry of Economy, China has become Mexico’s second-largest import partner after the U.S., with investment from 1,289 Chinese companies. China has also become Mexico’s largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region and its third largest export market.
China’s share in Mexico’s total imports has risen over the last decade from 14.9% in 2011 to 19.9% in 2021. It was 20.5% in the first four months of 2022.
Among the main exports of 2021, medical materials and intermediate goods — the latter being products used to produce a finished product — were at the top of the list.
“Currently, 75% of exports to Mexico are incorporated into a Mexican production line and from there, the finished products are in turn exported by Mexico to its trading partners,” Carolina Núñez, director of the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology, said.
Sales from Mexico to China have also grown an average of 7 percent in recent years, with an expectation to keep growing, said Susana Muñoz, president of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
The Mexican embassy in China has reported that despite the restrictions due to the pandemic, the first shipment of Mexican plantains arrived in China in 2020 and the signing of a protocol for exporting Mexican sorghum was finalized.
Copper, auto parts and vehicles were the most exported products to China in 2021, although Mexican pork also registered a growth on sales.
Finally, Bi Nu Pillai also said that the success in trade between China and Mexico is due to activities that promote links between businesspeople in the two countries. For example, the recent China Homelife México Fair in Mexico City, which took place earlier this month, is an annual event that seeks to generate connections between members of China and Mexico’s business communities.
Although attendance numbers for the event were not available at press time, event organizers expected about 20,000 business meetings between the fair’s 680 exhibitors and 15,000 projected attendees.
With reports from EFE Noticias and Embamex.
