Mexico's international trade in finished steel products (aggregate imports and exports) decreased 9.3 percent from 1.25 million mt in January 2022 to 1.14 million in January 2023, according to data from the Mexican Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) reviewed by SteelOrbis.
Mexico's main trading partner is the United States with 43.4 percent of the total. The trade flow of steel with the United States was 493,000 mt, 6.3 percent or 33,000 mt less than in January last year. Mexico imported 257,000 mt, 1.6 percent less, and Mexico exported 236,000 mt of finished steel products to the United States, 10.8 percent less.
Despite the drop in imports from Mexico's main partner, the country increased purchases from Germany by 98.7 percent to 27,000 mt, from Italy it bought 11,000 mt, 75.9 percent more; from China it imported 114,000 mt, 32.7 percent more, and from Japan it imported 141,000 mt, 19.9 percent more. Those four countries represent 35.3 percent of the total.
On the export side, Mexico exported finished steel products to the world 306,000 mt, 20.5 percent more. Of the top 10 countries, nine decreased. The only country that increased was the United Arab Emirates with 117.1 percent to 4,000 mt, a volume that only represented 1.3 percent of the total.