The value of imported scrap metal into Mexico increased marginally 0.9 percent, year-over-year, in January to total $82.4 million, the lowest growth rate for a first month of the year in three decades, reveals a SteelOrbis analysis of data from national statistics agency Inegi.
In the full-year 2022, metal scrap imports registered a historical record of $1.39 billion.
Scrap exports in January decreased year-on-year by 29.4 percent, totaling $24.8 million, the fourth consecutive year-on-year decline, and the second lowest amount in 24 months, the lowest being in November 2022 at $23.3 million.
The contraction in metal scrap exports from Mexico began in October of last year, before the presidential order of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to prohibit the export of steel and aluminum scrap, as a measure of his anti-inflationary plan.
Although the federal government modified its anti-inflation plan, the Mexican foreign trade regulator, the Ministry of Economy headed by Raquel Buenrostro Sanchez has not responded to requests for information on the status of the ban or release of scrap exports.
In October 2022, with the ban, exports decreased by 23.4 percent in annual variation, in November they plummeted 44.8 percent, in December they fell 31.4 percent and in January 2023 the drop was 29.4 percent.