Over the past four years, U.S. food and agricultural exports to Mexico have surged by 65%, making it the fastest-growing market for American agri-food products. Mexico’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery and booming industrial sector have fueled the demand for animal protein, processed foods, and feed. In 2024, U.S. ag exports to Mexico reached $31.4 billion, just shy of Canada’s $32.4 billion.
According to analysts at CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange, Mexico is poised to take the top spot as early as 2025, despite emerging economic headwinds. “Mexico’s rise as a customer has been a true success story for U.S. agriculture,” said Rob Fox, director of the Knowledge Exchange division. However, he noted that Mexico’s economy is beginning to slow down, and the Mexican peso — which had been exceptionally strong in recent years — has depreciated by 15% since early 2024, potentially weakening consumer purchasing power in 2025.
Since 2020, Mexico’s share of total U.S. ag exports has grown from 11.2% to 16.4%. The top five commodities exported to Mexico by volume are corn, pork, dairy products, soybeans, and poultry. Grain, feed, oilseeds, and related products remain the largest category, totaling $13.9 billion. This growth is primarily due to increasing feed demand from Mexico’s expanding livestock sector and domestic crop losses due to drought.
U.S. dairy exports to Mexico have also grown significantly — up 76% since 2020, largely driven by rising demand for cheese. Mexico is the top export market for U.S. dairy products, almost twice the size of second-ranked China. Even as Mexico’s domestic meat and poultry production grows, consumption is rising so quickly that imports from the U.S. continue to increase.
In addition to bulk commodities, Mexico is a major importer of a wide variety of U.S. packaged and processed foods. These include consumer packaged goods, bakery and confectionery products, as well as fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, sweeteners, and tree nuts.
Over the past decade, cross-border food and agricultural trade between the U.S. and Mexico has doubled, reaching $80 billion. Although free trade agreements have fallen out of political favor in recent years, the deep integration of the two countries' food systems is clearly mutually beneficial. “Consumers on both sides of the border benefit from a wider array of food choices at lower prices than they would otherwise,” said Rob Fox.
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