Mexico's product exports grew at a year-on-year rate of 14.7% in July, to 54,788.6 million dollars, driven by manufacturing, Inegi reported on Tuesday.

Imports amounted to US$54,860.5 million, an increase of 13.3%, leaving the country with a deficit of US$72 million in its trade balance.

Mexico has developed its manufacturing sector with the dual objective of taking advantage of lower manufacturing costs and its common border with the United States, its main export trading partner.

In the first seven months of the current year, Mexico sold manufactured products abroad for a value of 49,744.6 million dollars, which represents an increase of 15.9% at annual rate.

In terms of breakdown, automotive foreign sales were US$17,106.8 million and non-automotive sales were US$32,637.8 million, with increases of 7.2% and 21.1% in that order.

In perspective, the Mexican manufacturing industry has the basis to continue growing in the coming years, considering that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) arrivals to this sector remain dominant.

Mexico attracted 31.1 billion dollars of FDI in the first half of 2024 and manufacturing captured 54% of these flows.

Within the manufacturing sector, the most relevant increases were observed in exports of machinery and special equipment for diverse industries (53.2%), mining and metallurgy products (28.5%), electrical and electronic equipment and appliances (15.3%), food, beverages and tobacco (10.6%) and automotive products (7.2%).

In turn, the annual increase in exports of automotive products was due to 8.3% growth in sales channeled to the United States and 2.0% in those to other markets.