Mexico

The threat of a ban on Mexican aluminium scrap exports, reported in the previous Mirror, has been lifted. When an official document containing measures to tackle food inflation was ultimately published on October 19, it did not include an aluminium scrap export ban. However, the uncertainty experienced over that period highlights the importance of national associations and also supranational associations such as BIR, and also the importance of supporting them.

During November, the Mexican peso had its best performance for two years: on November 28, the exchange rate was MX$ 19.08 to the US dollar - almost 11% stronger than the MX$ 21.40 recorded in the spring of this year. A strong peso usually hurts exporters and might act as a headwind for shipping scrap abroad as most Mexican operations conduct their purchases in the domestic currency and their export sales in US dollars.

Many Mexican recycling companies have been seeing lower volumes through their yards during the second half of this year, with potential causes being a slowdown in manufacturing activity and reduced collection rates owing to higher fuel prices. However, many of us are at a loss when trying to explain the decline.

On a positive note, the Mexican automotive industry has continued its recovery: comparing October 2022 with the same month last year, there was 8% growth in auto production. All the analysts are saying that the industry has not yet fully recovered but clearly there is now a more positive momentum.