• Mexico: Industrial production surprised to the upside with monthly rebounds in construction and manufacturing in January

MEXICO: INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SURPRISED TO THE UPSIDE WITH MONTHLY REBOUNDS IN CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURING IN JANUARY

In January, industrial activity increased 2.9% y/y after stagnating 0.0% in December. Construction rebounded 17.9% (14.8% previously), utilities moderated 0.6% (2.2% previously), manufacturing rebounded slightly 0.1% (-4.0% previously) and mining deepened its decline to -1.6% (-1.2% previously). In the monthly comparison, industrial production rebounded 0.4% m/m from a previous -0.7%, with seasonally adjusted monthly figures. Construction and manufacturing increased 2.2% and 0.2% respectively, while utilities dropped for the fifth consecutive time -0.8%, and mining fell -0.4%.

On one hand, construction continues with double digit increases, mainly supported by civil engineering works (+53.4% y/y), facing some pressure to finish the public projects of the current administration, so we believe that construction will slow down as the change of administration approaches and the emblematic works are finished (chart 1).

Chart 1: Mexico: Industrial Production

On the other hand, energy and utilities is stagnant, with no clear signs of changing its trend, as the index stands at 66.71 points, far from the base year 2018=100 points (chart 2). Mining shows a decline in two of its three components, oil and gas (-2.5%) and metallic minerals (-0.4%), see chart 2 again.

Chart 2: Mexico: Industrial Activity Recovery

Lastly, manufactures have been quite irregular, even with annual declines during 2023, in line with the performance of the sector in the United States, which has also been down. The exception to this performance is transportation equipment, although it presented a more moderate advance in January (0.5% vs. 4.8% in all of 2023). The main components with declines were leather products (-12.8%), wood (-6.8%), machinery and equipment (-6.2%), paper (-6.8%) and textiles (-0.7%). Manufacturing could have an important recovery if trade with the U.S. continues to increase and nearshoring projects materialize, and we believe that less restrictive rates could help the recovery of the sectors with greater setbacks (table 1).

Table 1: Mexico—Industrial Production by Components

—Brian Pérez & Miguel Saldaña