Mexico’s industrial activity saw its best performance in 15 months during February

13 April, 2018

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Mexico’s industrial production increased 0.4% in real terms last February compared to the previous month, based on seasonally adjusted figures. Compared to the same month of 2017, the indicator grew by 0.7% based on the same methodology, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported this week.

This increase is the highest in 15 months, driven by the dynamism shown by the manufacturing industry and construction.

Manufacturing is the most weighted component within the index that measures industrial activity. In the second month of the year, this sector showed a 0.9% growth at annual rate, which offsets the 0.5% annual decline of January.

Of the 21 subsectors that make up the manufacturing industry, 12 showed production increases, with highlights in the textile products segment (except clothing), which saw an annual growth of 7%, its highest since March 2016.

The manufacture of transportation equipment (automotive production) showed a 6.5% annual advance followed by the manufacture of machinery and equipment, with a 6.3% rise, combining 16 months of expansions.

In contrast, the manufacturing of petroleum products and coal products contracted by 39.2% per year, its biggest drop since the INEGI has records.

Other sectors that make up the indicator of industrial activity showed mixed results.

On one hand, construction, which is the second sector that has the greatest impact on industrial production, showed an annual growth of 4%, its third consecutive month of increases.

The dynamism in this sector was encouraged by the 7.6% annual increase reflected in buildings construction, although civil engineering works reported a drop of 7.7% per year, the steepest in four months.

In turn, the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, water and gas supply by pipelines to the final consumer, recorded an annual growth of 3.1% based on seasonally adjusted figures.

The only sector that reported a contraction during February was mining, with a 5.7% drop at annual rate. It’s been 45 months in decline.

In its monthly variation, industrial activity grew 0.4%, manufacturing industries rose 0.6%, construction expanded by 0.5% and the generation, transmission and distribution of energy, water and gas to the final consumer increased 0.8%. Meanwhile, mining fell 1.9% compared to January 2018.

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