Non-automotive manufacturing bolsters external shipments

Non-automotive manufacturing exports totaled $90.385 billion in the first quarter of 2025, achieving annual growth of 10.7%, reported INEGI.

This segment represents 60.6% of total Mexican product exports.

Among the most exported goods in this category are computers, telephones, medical devices and instruments, monitors, refrigerators, air conditioners, electrical transformers, and beer.

In March 2025, non-automotive manufacturing exports increased at a year-over-year rate of 12.1% to $32,967.4 million.

Overall, manufactured goods exports totaled $49.99 billion in March, representing a 10.0% annual increase.

Within the country, Mexican automotive exports fell 7.7% in March (US$14,964.9 million) and fell 3.9% in the first quarter of 2025 (US$43,619.3 million).

In turn, the annual increase in automotive product exports in March was driven by increases of 6.5% in sales to the United States and 4.0% in sales to other markets.

In the manufacturing sector, the most significant increases in March were observed in exports of machinery and special equipment for various industries (50.2%), mining and metallurgy products (31.9%), metal products for domestic use (11.2%), professional and scientific equipment (11.0%), and automotive products (6.2%).

Gabriela Siller and Jesús Anacarsis López, analysts at Banco Base, highlighted that the growth in Mexican exports to the United States in March was due to companies making purchases in anticipation of the implementation of more tariffs.

In March, 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico that did not comply with the USMCA had already gone into effect, but "reciprocal" tariffs were scheduled to be announced on April 2.

According to Banco Base analysts, the acceleration of non-automotive manufacturing exports to the United States can be seen in greater detail in the figures from USA Trade (available as of February).

These statistics show that, in the first two months of the year, the growth in these exports was driven by Chapter 84 (Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, apparatus, and mechanical devices), with an annual growth of 43.22 percent.

This item alone accounted for 23.81% of goods exports to the United States in the first two months of the year, up from 17.69% in the same period last year.

“Stockpiling” in the face of tariffs

It also highlights that only 13.21% of exports under Chapter 84 of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System comply with USMCA rules, so it's logical that they would seek to preempt the imposition of tariffs.

Within Chapter 84, 92.21% of the growth was explained by heading 8471, data processing machines, which, although they represent 53.31% of Chapter 84 exports, showed an annual growth of 109.21%.

In as much detail as possible, 90.05% of exports under heading 8471 were accounted for solely by tariff item 84715001, which specifically includes data processing units such as memory units, central processing units (CPUs), and microprocessors (chips).

“The March trade balance showed positive figures, suggesting that the economy would have grown in March, driven by a calendar effect. Uncertainty persists as to whether this boost will be sufficient for the economy to avoid a technical recession at the beginning of 2025,” commented Luis Adrián Muñiz, an analyst at Vector. In any case, he said, the Mexican economy is going through a period of “very profound weakness.”