Mexico’s trade balance swung to a deficit of 606 million dollars in September, from a surplus of 605 million dollars in August and against market expectations of a 400 million dollar shortfall, the national statistics institute INEGI said. The deficit was wider than a year earlier, when it stood at 240 million dollars, but it was produced by the largest two way flows in the data.
Exports totalled 77,797 million dollars, up 37.9 percent from a year earlier. Non oil exports rose 38.8 percent and oil exports 9.6 percent. Within non oil exports, shipments to the United States increased 43.5 percent, while sales to other markets rose 16.4 percent. Manufactured goods drove the total, up 39 percent to 72,773 million dollars, led by electrical and electronic equipment, up 94.7 percent, mining and metallurgical products, up 15.5 percent, and machinery and equipment, up 14.7 percent.
Imports rose 33.1 percent to 78,403 million dollars. Intermediate goods, the inputs to Mexico’s own export factories, rose 38.8 percent to 63,103 million dollars, capital goods imports rose 18.7 percent and consumer goods 11.4 percent to 9,823 million dollars. The non oil trade surplus narrowed to 2.75 billion dollars from 4.05 billion in August as that import bill grew.
The cumulative picture is the opposite of the monthly headline. For the first nine months of 2026 Mexico exported 627,194 million dollars of goods, up 30.4 percent, and imported 617,940 million, up 27.5 percent, for a surplus of 9,254 million dollars, against a deficit of 3,398 million in the same period of 2025. September’s red ink is what a nearshoring boom looks like in a single month: factories importing parts at the same pace they ship finished electronics out.