For the first time, pork imported from Brazil will be available to the Mexican market in 2023.
This opening was given by a decree issued by the Mexican government on October 19, 2022, which came into effect the following day.
Through this decree, the government authorized the temporary exemption of import tariffs for some products of the “basic food basket”, including pork, fish, dairy products and corn.
According to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA), Mexican imports of pork imported from Brazil were 28,601 tons in 2023.
This volume is equivalent to 2.35% of total Brazilian exports of this product to the world last year.
Brazilian exports to Mexico
Brazil was the world’s sixth largest exporter of pork in 2023, with 2,631 million dollars.
In the first position was Spain (6,766 million dollars) and the United States in the second (6,049 million).
Pork imported from Brazil
Mexican imports of this product from around the world were 2,748 million dollars in 2023, according to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The sources of these imports, in millions of dollars, are detailed below:
- Imports from around the world: 2,748.
- United States: 2,328 million.
- Canada: 353 million,
- Brazil: 66 million.
Previously, Mexico made marginal imports from Spain and Chile.
Products:
The aforementioned decree eliminated tariffs on the following pork calcifications:
- 0203.11.01: In carcasses or half carcasses.
- 0203.12.01: Hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, with bone in.
- 0203.19.99: Other.
- 0203.21.01: Carcasses and half-carcasses.
- 0203.22.01: Hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, with bone in.
- 0203.29.99: Other.
Mexico buys from abroad mainly hams, shoulders and cuts thereof, with bone in.
At least in the past three decades, imported pork never came from Brazil.
So the 66 million dollars corresponding to 2023 was the amount of the first shipments from Brazil to Mexico.
For its part, the United States has remained the dominant supplier in recent years and in 2023 its shipments to Mexico broke records.