According to the document "Conociendo la industria de dispositivos médicos", prepared by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) and the Asociación Mexicana de Industrias Innovadoras de Dispositivos Médicos (AMID), three economic activities have been identified in Mexico that reflect the economic behavior of this industry.

The first is the manufacture of disposable material for medical use, the second activity is the manufacture of non-electronic equipment for medical, dental and laboratory use, and the third is the manufacture of non-woven (compressed) fabrics.

It is worth mentioning that the medical devices not considered in these economic activities are either produced in other activities or are imported products.

The study refers that, in this way, by amount of what was produced, the Manufacture of disposable material for medical use was the most important activity, since the value of production was 13,780 million constant pesos in 2021, which reflect an increase of 11.1 % over the previous year, due to the increase in demand for these products due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this case, the average annual growth, from 2013 to 2021, was 4.2 %.

Meanwhile, the Manufacture of non-electronic equipment for medical, dental and laboratory use had a production of 1,770 million constant pesos in 2021, with a growth of 2.9 % compared to the previous year. Likewise, the average annual growth rate was 6.2 % from 2013 to 2021.

Finally, growth in Nonwovens Manufacturing (compressed) was 4.7% from 2020 to 2021. Meanwhile, from 2013 to 2021 this activity grew 1.3 % on average each year.

It should be noted that, according to the report, in addition to production, in the medical devices industry, employment and remunerations presented increases or have remained stable in recent years.

"These increases were due to the increase in the demand for products of this industry, derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that contrasts with what happened in most economic activities, which reduced production, employment and remunerations in those years," the report details.

Exports and imports of the medical device industry

The INEGI and AMID report notes that, through 2020, exports of medical devices reached 10,668 million dollars in 2020 and imports 5,244 million dollars, which generated a surplus of 5,424 million dollars.

"Mexico exported the vast majority of medical devices to the United States (96.7% of the total) in 2020, percentage that corresponded to 9,653 million dollars. In addition, the origin of imports of these products was mainly the United States (60.7 %) and China (12 %); both accumulated 72.7 % of the total," the document details.

Other export destinations were France, China, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany, while Mexico also imported from countries such as Germany, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Pakistan and Taiwan, among others.

It should be noted that, from 2003 to 2020, exports of medical devices grew 8.6% annually on average, while imports grew 7.9%, which generated a surplus balance in the trade balance that increased 9.4% annually on average.

The report refers that the two most important exported tariff fractions were intravenous catheters for peritoneal dialysis, anesthesia or embolectomy and ozone therapy, oxygen therapy or aerosol therapy devices, respiratory resuscitation devices and other respiratory therapy devices, which added 9.2% of total exports.

On the import side, the two fractions that stood out were ozone therapy, oxygen therapy or aerosol therapy apparatus, respiratory resuscitation apparatus and other respiratory therapy apparatus and diagnostic reagents for determining immunological tests by means of monoclonal antibodies, even in the form of kits, which accumulated 8.4 % of the total.

Foreign Direct Investment in the industry

Information from Data Mexico refers that, in the period January to September 2022, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of the industry branch Manufacture of non-electronic equipment and disposable material for medical, dental and laboratory use, and Ophthalmic articles was 126 million dollars.

It should be noted that from January 1999 to September 2022, the accumulated amount of FDI was 1.841 billion dollars.

Likewise, in the first nine months of 2022, the states that received the most FDI for this industrial branch were Chihuahua, with 79.1 million dollars, and the state of Mexico and Baja California with 12.6 million dollars.

Meanwhile, from January 1999 to September 2022, the states that have received the most FDI are Chihuahua, with 1,157 million dollars; Baja California, with 406 million dollars, and Mexico City with 147 million dollars.

The main countries of origin of FDI from January 1999 to September 2022 were the United States with 54.8 million dollars, Canada and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, from January 1999 to September 2022 the countries that contributed the most to FDI were the United States with 1,411 million dollars, Germany with 193 million dollars and Canada with 105 million dollars.