Exports: Mexico's purchases grow and overcome Argentina's

By Décio Costa | Translated by Jorge Meditsch

For the first time, Mexico became the larger importer of Brazilian vehicles, overcoming Argentina. In the first seven months this year, the North American country received more than 82 thousand units, 89% more than one year ago (44 thousand).

In the same period, shipments to Argentina totaled 81 thousand vehicles, 2.6% less than last year’s 84 thousand. Márcio de Lima Leite, Anfavea’s president, recalled that despite the Argentinian internal market growth, Brazilian exports were already keeping a slower pace and alerts for recent taxing changes.

“The Argentinian government created a 7.5% tax on imports from Brazil. This tribute impacts the shipments flow and harms our exportation and the Brazilian product competitiveness in the Argentinian market”, he said.

“It is also blatantly opposing ACE, the agreement that regulates commercial relations, as, in practice, it is an import tax with another name. This has been discussed by the governments. We must assure the fulfillment of the agreement to achieve competitiveness and no cost increase.”

Leite also commented on not encouraging scenarios in relevant Brazilian vehicle consumer countries, such as Colombia and Chile. Due to these countries’ low internal market demand, our exports are harmed.

Shipments to Colombia from January through July fell 42% compared to last year, from 47 thousand to 27 thousand units. To Chile, the drop was 61% from 41 thousand to 18 thousand.

Despite the growth of shipments to Mexico, the export volume fell 17.1% in July compared to June, with only 30.3 thousand units shipped. Compared to last year, when 41.9 thousand vehicles were embarked, the fall reached 27.6%. In the first seven months, the shipment reduction was 10.6%, from 288.1 thousand units to 257.5 thousand.

Photo: VW