Mexico recorded a trade surplus of nearly US $2.26 billion in May as total exports surpassed US $69.5 billion, driven by 25.6% annual growth of non-oil exports and an 18% rise in oil exports.
In its monthly trade balance report, Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI said preliminary foreign trade data indicates that overall exports were up 25.4% compared to May 2025, reaching US $69.54 billion.
Although the May surplus of US $2.26 billion pales in comparison to the US $4.52 billion surplus reported in April, INEGI said the reduction stemmed from a smaller surplus in the non-oil trade balance — which fell from US $7.22 billion in April to US $4.9 billion in May.
At the same time, the oil trade balance deficit remained at a similar level, shrinking only slightly from US $2.70 billion April to US $2.64 billion in May.
Significantly, last month’s export figures helped boost the country’s accumulated trade surplus for the January-to-May period to nearly US $5.77 billion, easily exceeding the US $918 million surplus recorded during the first five months of 2025.
May was also the third straight month during which Mexican exports registered year-on-year growth as they continue to outpace the rise in imports, which rose 24% to US $67.28 billion last month.
Breaking down the data by goods, petroleum exports rose 18% year-on-year to US $2.42 billion, primarily as a result of higher crude-oil prices.
Exports of manufactured goods grew by 25.1% to US $62.99 billion, while agricultural exports (US $1.99 billion) eked up 2.2%. Exports of extractives and raw materials reached US $2.13 billion, an 88.7% spike.
Regarding the destination of non-oil exports, INEGI reported that there were year-on-year increases of 27.2% in those goods destined for the United States and 17.7% in those destined for the rest of the world.
On the import side, Mexico bought goods from abroad worth US $67.28 billion dollars, an annual increase of 24%.
The biggest increase was seen in purchases of intermediate goods — used as inputs for production — which climbed by 29.8%. Imports of consumer goods rose by 6.5% and imports of capital goods advanced by 1.6%.
Petroleum imports rose 27.9% to US $5.07 billion, while non-petroleum imports were up 23.7% to US $62.22 billion.
With reports from UDG-TV, Market Watch, El Sol de México and El Economista
