The value of imports of steel products to Mexico once again exceeded $3.0 billion per month. In July imports totaled $3.03 billion, 8.8 percent up, year-over-year, and the sixth time in Mexican steel history that $3 billion has been exceeded, according to SteelOrbis' analysis of data from the national statistics office Inegi.
New records were set last May and June with $3.25 and $3.28 billion. Of the six times that $3.0 billion has been exceeded, two were last year (June and August) and in 2023 they are March, May, June and July.
Due in part to idled production at Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA), the value of steel exports in Mexico registered the eleventh consecutive annual decline. In July exports decreased 29.7 percent, year-over-year, to $1.0 billion, the sixteenth worst drop in the last 29 years.
Trade flow in July totaled $4.04 billion, down 4.2 percent year-over-year. The Mexican steel market is in deficit and practically in the last 30 years the trade balance has been in deficit for the country. In July, the deficit was $2.03 billion, 49.1 percent higher than the $1.36 billion in July of last year.
In the accumulated period, January-July, imports of steel products to Mexico totaled $20.20 billion, 6.0 percent more compared to the same period last year. For a similar period, it is a new historical record.
In exports, they totaled $7.52 billion, 20.2 percent less. The deficit in Mexico's steel trade balance was $12.88 billion, 31.0 percent higher, also a new all-time record.