Capital goods imported by Mexico fell in the first five months of 2025, after growing for four consecutive years.

According to Inegi data, Mexico imported these products for a customs value of 22.922 billion dollars from January to May of this year. This implies a year-on-year decrease of 11.5 percent.

Why is this trend important? Capital goods are a set of products that serve as a means to produce other goods. 

Here are some examples: industrial robots, drones for crop analysis, lathes, buildings, electron microscopes, assembly lines, virtual reality simulators, signal repeater towers and trucks.

Capital goods imported by Mexico

In 2024, Mexico’s external purchases increased 4.5% at a year-on-year rate. This was mainly due to a 7.3% increase and a 25.7% decrease in non-oil and oil imports, respectively, compared to 2023. Of these imports, 75.6% were intermediate goods, 14.5% were consumer goods and 9.9% were capital goods.

When a country imports capital goods, it is not just bringing in simple products, but new capabilities to produce better and faster.

Importing certain equipment shows where an economy wants to move. If a country starts bringing in robotic arms, it is a sign that it wants to modernize its industry.

In 2024, capital goods imported to Mexico were US$61.575 billion. From 2021 to 2024, this indicator maintained positive growth rates. In fact, in the first three years of this period, growth rates were in double digits.

Here is the trend of capital goods imported into Mexico, in millions of dollars:

• 2019: 41,787.
• 2020: 33,273.
• 2021: 40,528.
• 2022: 48,203.
• 2023: 57,852.
• 2024: 61,575.
• January-May 2025: 22,922. 

Trade balance

In 2024, Mexico recorded a trade deficit of US$8.2 billion, according to preliminary figures. This figure exceeded the deficit of US$5.5 billion reported in 2023.

The increase had two main causes. On the one hand, the non-oil balance surplus fell sharply. It went from US$13.1 billion in 2023 to only US$1.8 billion in 2024.

On the other hand, the balance of oil products deficit narrowed. It fell from $18.5 billion to $10 billion. Despite this improvement, it was not enough to offset the drop in non-oil trade.