Mexico Enters the Top 10 Ranking of Agri-food Exporters
For the first time, our country is featured on the list of the largest global sellers of agricultural and agro-industrial commodities, moving Argentina, beer, avocado, tomato, tequila, cookies, and berries, the most successful products.
ONE STEP AHEAD
In addition to being featured among the largest agri-food exporters worldwide, Mexico has achieved a superlative trade balance.
For the first time, Mexico entered the Top 10 Ranking of the 10 largest export economies of agri-food commodities, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In 2018, Mexican exports of these commodities added a customs value of 35,000 million dollars, and thus displaced those made by Argentina, which was left out of this group.
Last year, the seven main exporters of agro-industrial commodities remained unchanged, led by the European Union, the United States, and Brazil. India rose to eighth place and Australia went down to ninth.
China (9%), Brazil (6%), and Mexico (6%) registered the largest increases in exports of agricultural commodities among the top 10 exporters, whereas Australia (-10%) and Indonesia (7%) experienced declines.
The largest falls for Australia were for wheat (-34%) and barley (-13%). Indonesia had a decrease in exports of animal or vegetable fats (-11%) and rubber and related items (-18%).
Last year, Mexico exports were mostly from avocado ($2,392 million dollars), tomato ($2,261 million dollars), fruits of the capsicum or pimenta genres ($1,158 million dollars), beef ($1,073 million dollars), red fruits or berries ($927 million dollars), nuts ($769 million dollars), live animals ($758 million dollars), citrus fruits ($597 million dollars), pork ($536 million dollars), and cucumber ($521 million dollars). From another angle, the Ministry of Economy reported on Monday that trade in agri-food commodities is becoming dynamic in North America.
“The diversity of ecosystems and climates in our countries has allowed Mexican, American, and Canadian consumers to have broader options for high quality fresh produce, animal protein, and processed foods throughout the year and at affordable prices,” he stated.
In 2018, Mexico traded agri-food commodities with the world for an amount of $64.5 billion dollars.
Particularly, Mexican trade in this sector with the United States and Canada reached a sum of $50,700 million dollars in that year, which represented a 78.5% of the total traded. From the purchases in the sector, the United States concentrated the first place, accumulating 77.5% of the total value of trade. The Ministry of Economy stood out that Mexico is the second market for agri-food exports in the United States, whose sales totaled $ 19.6 billion dollars last year.
In turn, Mexico is the main supplier of agricultural commodities of the United States, with $ 29.1 billion in 2018.
United States exports are concentrated in grains, meat and oilseeds; representing 54% of agricultural exports to Mexico; being yellow corn, soybean, wheat, beef, pork and poultry the exports which stand out.
Finally, the agri-food sector in Mexico went from registering a structural trade deficit with the United States and Canada in 1993 to a growing surplus, which in 2018 stood at $7.3 billion dollars (from $8.1 billion dollars, which Mexico obtained from a positive balance in that same year in its global trade).
Source: eleconomista.com.mx