Mexican trade surplus narrows, but export recovery gathers pace

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MEXICO CITY, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Mexico's trade surplus with the rest of the world shrank in September as imports picked up faster than exports during a burgeoning recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, figures fromthe national statistics agency (INEGI) showed on Tuesday.

Adjusted for seasonal swings, Mexico posted a trade surplus for the fourth month in a row, narrowing to $5.125 billion from over $6.4 billion in August, the data showed.

Compared with the previous month, total exports increased by 0.9% in adjusted terms, whereas imports, which have lagged in the recovery, were up by 5.3%, the data showed.

Nevertheless, in unadjusted terms exports were up on the previous year for the first time since the pandemic began, rising by 3.7% from September 2019. In adjusted terms, the export total was down 1.0% from a year earlier, INEGI said.

By contrast, total imports were still down 8.5% year-on-year in unadjusted terms and 13.0% in adjusted terms.

In unadjusted terms, the trade surplus was $4.385 billion.

(Reporting by Dave Graham Editing by Nick Zieminski)

((dave.graham@thomsonreuters.com; +52 55 5282 7146; Reuters Messaging: dave.graham.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

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