Food, agricultural exports to EU up 19%

Friday, July 25, 2014

Food and agricultural exports to the European Union were up almost 19% in the first four months of the year to a record, for the period, of US $444.8 million.

The figures were released by the EU statistics agency Eurostat, which said Mexico’s imports from the EU were also up, and totaled $438 million, leaving Mexico with a trade surplus of $6.51 million for the period.

Alcoholic beverages led Mexican exports at 17% of the total, followed by fruit at 14%, vegetables at 10.8%, processed fruit and vegetables 9.8% and coffee 8.1%.

Beer exports were up almost 24%.

The movement of alcoholic beverages was big in both directions, and represented nearly 29% of Mexico’s imports, with whisky being the principal product.

Meanwhile, there has been a very large increase in agricultural production in El Bajío, Mexico’s fertile northern plateau. In the first six months it was up 54.7% over last year, an increase attributed to a larger area being cultivated.

The states that make up El Bajío are Guanajuato, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, where production totaled 1.7 million tonnes, 7.5% of the total for Mexico as a whole.

The principal crops are barley, wheat, oats, carrots, lettuce, onions, sorghum, corn and tomatoes.

Sources: El Economista (esp), El Financiero (esp)

Record numbers will buoy summit

Monday, 17 February 2014
THE NEWS

When Mexico, the United States and Canada celebrate 20 years of free trade at the North American Leaders Summit on Wednesday, they will be accompanied by record figures for three-way trade and the regional economy.

Commerce among the three nations linked by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has increased by 350 percent since the accord was implemented in 1994, and the region has since consolidated into one of the most competitive in the world, according to analysts and government officials quoted by the Mexican news agency Notimex.

“Although NAFTA’s impact has at times been exaggerated, it has proven to be the most successful trade accord in the history of the United States, with the sole exception of the Uruguay Round,” said an analyst for the United States Chamber of Commerce.

In 1993, the last year before NAFTA went into effect, the Mexico and the United States registered a trade balance of $81.4 billion, with the surplus going to the U.S. by $1.6 billion.

In contrast, by 2013, the two countries reached a record trade figure of $506 billion, with the surplus shifting to Mexico.

“North America has emerged as potentially the most competitive region in the world for reasons made possible by NAFTA,” said Mexican Ambassador to the United States Eduardo Medina Mora, speaking at a recent forum organized by American University in Washington, D.C. “There have been fundamental advances, especially in the areas of border infrastructure and the capacity to process merchandise and transport people.”

For example, in 1993 barely 1.0 percent of the bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States was carried by rail. Today, it’s at 17 percent.

The three leaders — Presidents Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and Barack Obama of the United States, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada — will have the opportunity to take up what Medina Mora called a “strategic vision” for the region at the summit, which will take place in Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico, not far from Mexico City.

“It’s important now to build this vision so that by establishing public policies focused on lowering the cost of doing business and increasing competitiveness, we can take maximum advantage of the potential that we have,” Medina Mora said, according to Notimex.

NAFTA’s 20th birthday has prompted a number of Washington think tanks to hold forums and roundtables discussing the accord, with the general consensus that the impact has been positive for all three nations.
Recently at one of the forums, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Charlene Barshefsky, a former U.S. trade representative, proposed an update for the accord.

“I don’t think it’s either smart or necessary to re-open NAFTA in any formal way,” she said. “But I do think there are paths to improving it.”

Carla Hills, another former U.S. trade representative, said the next phase of regional integration should include Mexico and Canada in the negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade and investment agreement between he United States and the European Union.

Hills said that including Mexico in that process would help advance Peña Nieto’s reform program.

Nation standing on global stage

Tuesday, 28 January 2014 00:10 
BY ROCÍO ZAYAS
The News


Mexico’s Undersecretary for Foreign Relations Carlos de Icaza met with Helga Schmid, deputy secretary-general for the European Union’s External Action Service (EAS), in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday to exchange viewpoints on the main issues of the bilateral, regional and global agenda.

Icaza said that the structural reforms passed during President Enrique Peña Nieto’s first year in office will have great importance for the strategic association between Mexico and the European Union, explaining that they will make Mexico’s economy more competitive, strengthen the country’s institutional regime and benefit Mexican citizens by expanding their rights.

Schmid acknowledged Mexico’s strategic importance for the European Union’s foreign policy, emphasizing Mexico’s increased profile on the world stage, as seen by its participation in the Geneva II Syria peace talks.
Both officials stressed the need to continue promoting issues of common interest on the international agenda, such as defending human rights, the rule of law and democracy. They also discussed the G20, the Pacific Alliance, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the Geneva II peace talks and the situation in the Middle East in general.

Diego Gómez Pickering, Mexico’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, also said that the structural reforms approved last year should help attract foreign investment.

“What’s happening in Mexico now and what will happen this year when we begin to implement the reforms reaffirms before the eyes of international investors that the path the country is going down is the correct one,” Gómez Pickering said. “It’s a path that has created confidence and will make it possible to attract more foreign direct investment.”

He went on to say that one of this year’s goals in Mexico’s relationship with the United Kingdom is to exceed 2015’s bilateral trade target, which was set at $7 billion under the Calderón administration.

Investors from US, Mexico to Benefit from Canada-EU Trade Deal

Canada NewsWire

digitaljourmal.com

TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2013

TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2013 /CNW/ - Investors from US and Mexico and other third-party countries will benefit from the Canada-EU trade deal when it comes to investing in Canada, according to a report released today by the C.D. Howe Institute. In "Who Else Benefits from CETA? Some Implications of Most-Favoured Nation Treatment," respected trade lawyer Lawrence L. Herman concludes that investors from countries that have preferential trade agreements with Canada will be entitled to the same preferential benefits as EU investors under the Canada-EU trade deal.

In the first of a series of briefings by the C.D. Howe Institute on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA), Lawrence Herman considers the question of whether the trade pact will have beneficial side effects for Canada's other trading partners, in the spirit of the "Most-Favoured Nation" rule of international trade law.

The author finds that under the terms of Canada's WTO membership and numerous Foreign Investment Protection Agreements (FIPAs), the answer is no. However, with respect to investors and investments from the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile and others with which Canada has preferential trade agreements (PTAs), the answer is yes.

"The North American Free Trade Agreement does not expressly restrict application of the Most-Favoured Nation rule with respect to investments, so the rule applies," commented Lawrence Herman.  "Investors from the United States and Mexico must be treated on an equal footing and receive the same preferences as EU investors or investments under CETA; likewise, our other partners in PTAs, such as Peru, Chile and Columbia."

Among the benefits of CETA for EU investors will be the raising of the threshold for investment review under the Investment Canada Act from the current enterprise value level of $344 million to $1.5 billion, noted Herman.  "The increased review threshold will apply equally to investors from the US and Mexico as it does to investors from the European Union."

"There is an important point to be made about uranium-sector investments, which are being loosened up for EU investors," added Herman. "Because of the MFN rule, US and Mexican investors will obtain the same level of investment rights as EU investors in that sector. This is an important aspect of the CETA that will entail potential changes of significance in the Canadian uranium extraction and processing industry."

Mexico, EU look to expand trade ties

Thursday, 14 November 2013 00:10
THE NEWS


Mexico is seeking to expand its range of agricultural products and increase trade with the European Union, Raúl Urteaga Trani, international affairs coordinator for the Food Production Secretariat (Sagarpa), said on Wednesday.

According to Urteaga Trani, there is interest within both Mexico and the European Union for increasing bilateral trade and cooperation on agricultural issues.

In 2000, Mexico signed a free trade agreement with the European Union, which Urteaga Trani says must now be modernized to expand trade possibilities and make it easier to exchange agricultural products. He added that work will also begin soon on certifying sanitary standards on farms and slaughterhouses in both Mexico and the European Union to guarantee the health and safety of food products.

Anna Jonsson, representative of the European Commission’s Economic and Financial Affairs section, said that Europe is interested in developing the economic potential represented by trade with Mexico and increasing commercial flows, recognizing the growth in demand for Mexican food products in the European market. Jonsson said that there is interest in carrying out scientific and technological exchanges with Mexico, as well as inviting Mexican researchers to study in European Union countries.

According to the Economy Secretariat (SE), Mexico’s agricultural exports to the European Union between January and June 2013 added up to $609 million.