The trend of capital goods imports to Mexico showed a drop in the first quarter of 2025, after four years of continuous growth in the same period, according to Inegi data.

In the first three months of 2025, Mexico imported these products for a customs value of US$13.599 billion.

Imports of capital goods consist of the acquisition abroad of machinery, tools, equipment and technology that are used to produce goods or provide services over a long period of time, without being consumed directly.

Trend of capital goods imports

Last March, foreign purchases of these goods were US$4.646 billion, falling 1.3% at an annual rate.

From January to March 2025, the structure of the value of imports was as follows: intermediate use goods, 77.2%; consumer goods, 13.6%; and capital goods, 9.2 percent.

External purchases of capital goods to Mexico in the first quarter of each year, in millions of dollars, are shown below:

• 2018: 10,422.
• 2019: 10,329.
• 2020: 8,791.
• 2021: 9,404.
• 2022: 10,727.
• 2023: 13,212.
• 2024: 14,675.
• 2025: 13,599.

Seasonally adjusted data

In March 2025, and with seasonally adjusted figures, total merchandise imports to Mexico grew 4.43% on a monthly basis. This increase was driven by a 5.07% advance in non-oil imports. However, oil imports registered a 4.71 percent drop.

By type of good, significant changes were also observed. Imports of consumer goods rose 0.85 percent, mainly due to a 3.11 percent rise in non-oil consumer goods. 

In addition, imports of intermediate use goods increased 5.82%, highlighting a 6.28% increase in non-oil intermediate use goods. In contrast, imports of capital goods decreased 1.40 percent.

Trade balance

In March 2025, foreign sales of Mexican merchandise grew 9.6 percent year-on-year. Thus, they reached a value of 55,527.3 million dollars. 

At the same time, Mexico reported a surplus in its merchandise trade balance of 3,442.5 million dollars. This result was due to imports totaling 52,084.9 million dollars, representing an increase of 7.1 percent.