Mexico's sales to China reach record levels
The sales of goods and services from Mexico to China are growing strongly, their value is at its highest level since records have been kept, this is in a context in which our country seeks to strengthen trade ties with the Asian giant.
Mexico's sales of goods and services to China are growing strongly, their value is at its highest level since records have been kept, this in a context in which our country seeks to strengthen trade ties with the Asian giant to diversify its destinations and stop depending entirely on the United States.
Between January and July 2021, according to data from the Bank of Mexico, the amount of exports to China amounted to 5.325 billion dollars, 32 percent more compared to 4 billion in the same period of 2020 and 40 percent more compared to 3.8 billion dollars in the same months of 2019.
The amount reported this year already surpasses the previous record for the same period, which was 4 billion 112 million dollars in 2018.
Despite the growth shown by Mexican exports to the Asian country, according to the central bank's figures, they are still very low, representing only 1.9 percent of the 276.9 billion dollars that Mexico has sold to other nations, mainly to the US.
To measure Mexico's trade dependence on the US, between January and July of this year, the value of sales of goods and services to that nation amounted to 221.9 billion dollars, that is, eight out of every 10 dollars in merchandise that our country sells.
Imports
One of Mexico's challenges is to reduce the trade deficit with China, since many more goods and services are bought from that nation than are sold. Data from BdeM indicate that between January and July 2021 the value of imports from China stood at 53,142 billion dollars, 32 percent more compared to the 40 billion reported in the same period of 2020.
However, the balance is still one percent below the 53 billion 698 million dollars of the first seven months of 2019, which means that trade with China has not yet fully recovered from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, Luz María de la Mora, Undersecretary of Commerce of the Ministry of Economy, indicated that one of the Mexican government's objectives is to strengthen trade relations with China.
To this end, she said, both nations have established a constant dialogue: "We work hand in hand to establish bases that improve the development of both economies. The high-level groups have allowed us to improve and facilitate the business environment for Chinese companies.
Although the US is Mexico's main trading partner, experts recommend fostering relations with China, since last year the Asian giant became the main trading power measured by the sum of imports plus exports, ousting the US to second place.
