Mexico's trade balance swung to a $605mn surplus in August as imports cooled faster than exports.
The result, reported Monday by statistics agency Inegi, marks a shift from the $848mn deficit recorded in July, marking a fifth month of surpluses in six months.
Inegi said the shift in the balance resulted from a widening of the non-oil trade surplus—which rose to $4.05bn in August from $2.81bn in July—and a smaller oil-related trade deficit, which narrowed from $3.66bn to $3.44bn over the same period.
Total exports fell by 4.2pc to $78bn in August from $81.4bn the prior month, with total imports down by 5.9pc to $77.4bn from the prior month. Still, exports were up by 40pc from a year earlier while imports were up by 34pc.
The monthly pullback was driven almost entirely by oil, with petroleum exports down by 20.4pc to $1.58bn in August from the prior month.
On the oil price context, the Mexican Mix crude price rose to $75.98/bl in August, up $0.86 from July and $13.64 above August 2025, even as crude export volumes fell to 351,000 b/d from 510,000 b/d in July and 594,000 b/d a year earlier.
Non-oil exports fell by 3.8pc to $76.4bn. Automotive exports fell by 3.3pc to $15.9bn. Farm exports were down by 12.5pc.
Capital goods imports led the decline in imports, falling by 10.5pc to $5bn while intermediate goods imports fell by 5.8pc to $63.3bn, with the petroleum linked share of that down by 7.9pc. Consumption goods fell by 4.2pc to $9.1bn.
Mexican exports "will continue to be sustained by the boom in products associated with AI," Banorte said, but trade uncertainty will deepen in coming months as questions mount over the future of the USMCA free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada.
Mexican deputy economy minister for foreign trade Luis Rosendo Gutierrez said on 23 September the fourth round of US-Mexico bilateral trade discussions, originally scheduled for this week, have been postponed, citing scheduling conflicts tied to an upcoming G20 summit.
