Mexico's merchandise trade balance turned to a surplus in September from a deficit last year, preliminary data released by statistical office Inegi showed Thursday.
The trade balance was a surplus of $234 million in September, compared to a deficit of $1.87 billion in the same month last year. Economists were looking for a deficit of $1.34 billion for September.
Export of goods increased 1.8 percent on an annual basis to $29.3 billion during the month. The growth reflected an 1.2 percent increase in non-oil exports and 5.4 percent rise in the oil exports.
The value of imports, meanwhile, decreased by 5.1 percent year-on-year to $29.07 billion. Oil imports and non-oil imports decreased by 30.2 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.
Month-on-month, seasonally adjusted exports were broadly unchanged in September, while imports decrease by 1.44 percent.
In the January-September period, the trade balance was a surplus of $2.12 billion. Exports and imports advanced by 6.3 percent and 5.1 percent respectively from the corresponding period of last year, data showed.
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