Imports of metallic minerals to Mexico from the United States registered a year-on-year growth of 28.7% from January to August 2021, to 1.288 billion dollars.

Metallic minerals include iron, gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, uranium, radium, and vanadium.

Mexico is a major exporter of minerals and ores, and the sector’s imports have grown more than 10% annually since 2017.

Metallic minerals

Panoramicly, the Mexican economy registered a drop of 8.5% in 2020, the second most pronounced since 1932, the year in which there was a decrease of 14%.

At the sectoral level, the secondary sector decreased 10%, services 7.7% and the agricultural sector achieved a growth of 1.9 percent.

Within the secondary sector, the biggest falls were in the construction industry with 17.2% and manufacturing with 10%; the electricity and water industry registered a decrease of 5.3%, mining of 4.6% and the oil industry of 0.1 percent.

Within the sector, Grupo México, Met-Mex Peñoles and Fresnillo PLC are the three main mining producers in Mexico, representing 82% of the market value.

These three companies are the largest producers of metallic minerals in Mexico that supply the national steel industry in Mexico.

Back to Mexican imports of metallic minerals from the United States, these increased from 1,152 million to 1,186 million dollars in 2017 1 2018.

They then climbed from $ 1,380 to $ 1,431 million from 2019 to 2020, according to US government data.

Balance of trade

In terms of foreign trade, from Mexico with the whole world, exports amounted to 18,405 million dollars in 2020, a figure that meant a decrease of 1.8% compared to the previous year, according to statistics from the Mexican Mining Chamber (Camimex).

Precious metals, favored by the evolution of prices, registered an increase of 6.6% with a value of sales abroad of 7.868 million dollars; However, the rest of the metallic minerals could not offset the lower demand and registered a decrease of 12.9%, adding 8.537 million dollars for exports.

For their part, imports generally reflected the economic crisis and the loss of dynamism of the domestic market, with which they registered a decrease of 22.5% compared to 2019, with a drop in foreign purchases of metallic minerals of 14.1 and 50% in non-metallic minerals.

The significant decrease in imports allowed that, despite the decrease in exports, the positive balance of the mining-metallurgical trade balance registered an increase in 2020 of 34.3%, reporting a value of 9.187 million dollars.