The key for Mexico to have greater commercial integration with its USMCA partners (United States and Canada) and in parallel a gradual integration with Latin America, is replacing imports of products from Asia and boosting national production and added value, said the CEO of the steel company Ternium and also president of the Chamber of the Transformation Industry (Caintra) of Nuevo León, Máximo Vedoya.
Vedoya spoke at the recent Alacero Summit 2024, a forum of industrialists in the sector in Buenos Aires, Argentina, organized by the Latin American Steel Association (Alacero).
The businessman said that Mexico saw the importance that industrial development is key to the country's economic growth, according to the Mexican newspaper Ovaciones.
Official data, reviewed by SteelOrbis, shows that Mexico imports 39.7 percent from Asia and 42.6 percent from the United States and Canada, and only 4.3 percent from the rest of the Americas. Total accumulated imports from Mexico in the January-September period were $416 billion. In contrast, Mexico exports 86.2 percent of the total to its USMCA trading partners, 3.9 percent to the rest of the Americas, and only 4.8 percent to Asia. Total exports from Mexico in the first nine months were $406 billion. Data from the Mexican Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero), reviewed by SteelOrbis, show that of total steel exports, the United States bought 76.1 percent of the 2.0 million metric tons (mt) exported from January to August. In terms of imports, Mexico bought 31.0 percent of the total from the United States and 46.9 percent from five Asian countries. The top three are South Korea with 16.3 percent, Japan with 14.3 percent and China with 9.3 percent of the 8.6 million mt imported from January to August of this year.