The companies Ferrocarril Mexicano (Ferromex) and Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM) registered drops of 1.2 and 3.1%, respectively, in the movement of rail freight in Mexico in the first half of 2020, at annual rates.
Rail transport moved 58 million 962,000 tons in the first six months of the year in the country, a year-on-year decrease of 4.3 percent.
In particular, Ferromex registered 28 million 891,000 tons, a decrease of 1.2%, comparing the same periods.
At the same time, KCSM reported a 3.1% decline, to total 20 million 937,000 tons.
WTO June statistics showed a 14% drop in the volume of world merchandise trade between the first and second quarters of this year.
This estimate, together with the new reading of the Merchandise Trade Barometer, suggests that world trade in 2020 is evolving in line with the less pessimistic of the two scenarios outlined in the WTO’s April forecast, which projected that the volume of Merchandise trade this year would contract by 13% compared to 2019.
“However, as WTO economists warned in June, the strong economic cost of the Covid-19 pandemic suggests that projections for a strong V-shaped trade rebound in 2021 may be overly optimistic.
“Given that uncertainty remains high, in terms of economic and trade policy, as well as how the medical crisis will play out, an L-shaped recovery is a real prospect. This would leave world trade well below its pre-pandemic trajectory, «concluded the WTO.
Ferromex, KCSM and national trade
Mexico registered a record in its trade surplus of merchandise in June, of 5.547 million dollars, the highest since January 1993, the last data in which the Bank of Mexico has statistics online.
The favorable balance was the result of exports of 33,076.5 million dollars, a decrease of 12.8%, and imports of 27,529.8 million dollars, a decrease of 22.2%, at an annual rate.
World trade trend
Chart: WTO.From January to July, Ferrosur transported 6 million 835,000 tons (-9% year-on-year); Ferrocarril y Terminal del Valle de México, 845,000 tons (-29.1%); Coahuila-Durango Line, 1 million 150,000 tons (-30.3%); Tehuantepec Isthmus Railroad (FIT), 134,000 tons (-23.3%), and Administration of the Tijuana-Tecate Short Route, 70,000 tons (-5.4 percent).
