Insight – Mexican Government suspends tariffs on agricultural and fishery products
27 July 2022
On 17 May 2022, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a presidential decree (in Spanish). The decree removed import duties on 66 tariff lines covering several agricultural and fishery products.
The suspensions will be in place for one year. They set the tariff rates for all affected products at 0%.
The decree is part of President Obrador’s broader anti-inflation plan called the Package Against Inflation and Scarcity.
Implications for Australian exporters
The tariff reductions make Australian products cheaper to import, increasing their competitiveness.
Exporters should consider working with Austrade and Mexican importers to identify export opportunities on affected products (see Table 1).
The full list of commodities with tariff suspensions is available in English from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Table 1: Selected tariffs on Mexican agricultural and fishery imports (in A$)
|
Commodity
|
Does Australia have market access?
|
HS code
|
MFN tariff
(CPTPP tariff)
|
Reduced tariff
|
Total Australian exports 2021
|
Total Mexican imports 2021
|
|
Live bovines
|
Yes
|
0102
|
7%
(15% to 0%)
|
0%
|
$1.4b
|
$44.8m
|
|
Live poultry
|
No
|
0105
|
9.8%
10% to 0%
|
0%
|
$5.3m
|
$1.7m
|
|
Bovine meat
|
Yes
|
0201 &
0202
|
22.5%
(25% to 20%)
|
0%
|
$9.1b
|
$1.1b
|
|
Porcine meat
|
No
|
0203
|
20%
(20%)
|
0%
|
$141.9m
|
$2.3b
|
|
Fresh or chilled fish
|
Yes
|
0302
|
12.4%
(15% - 0%)
|
0%1
|
$397.2m
|
$2.3m
|
|
Frozen fish
|
Yes
|
0303
|
12.2%
(15% - 0%)
|
0%1
|
$145.8m
|
$23m
|
|
Fish fillets
|
Yes
|
0304
|
15%
(15%)
|
0%1
|
$30.4m
|
$488.7m
|
|
Milk and cream liquid
|
Yes
|
0401
|
10%
(10%)
|
0%
|
$356.3m
|
$10.7m
|
|
Milk and cream powder
|
Yes
|
0402
|
35%
(45% to 10%2)
|
0%
|
$1.3b
|
$655.5m
|
|
Fresh potatoes
|
No
|
0701
|
37.5%
(75% to 0%)
|
0%
|
$40.4m
|
$74m
|
|
Tomatoes
|
No
|
0702
|
10%
(10%)
|
0%
|
$5.1m
|
$0m
|
|
Onions
|
No
|
0703
|
10%
(10%)
|
0%
|
$34.4m
|
$100.7m
|
|
Carrots
|
No
|
0706
|
10%
(10%)
|
0%
|
$92.6m
|
$0m
|
|
Citrus
|
No
|
0805
|
20%
(20% to 0.2%)
|
0%
|
$454m
|
$40.1m
|
|
Wheat
|
No
|
1001
|
11.3%
(15% to 0%)
|
0%
|
$9.4b
|
$780.7m
|
Source: ABS, UN Comtrade, Official Journal of the Federation (Mexico) and WTO
Retrieved: June 2022
Product tariff rates vary. The exact tariff rates are available on the International Trade Centre Market Access Map website. 1 Not all products listed under the HS4 code have had their tariff rate reduced to 0%. See USDA website.
2 An additional US$0.36 per kilogram duty was also required on some dairy powder products.
Australian AFF exports to Mexico
Mexico is a large agricultural, fisheries and forestry (AFF) importer. In 2021, Mexico imported $36 billion in AFF products, up 15.7% from $30.3 billion in 2017. The United States supplied 77.6% of Mexican AFF imports in 2021.
Australian exports to Mexico increased from $48.7 million in 2016 to $176.6 million in 2021. This was an increase of 262.6%. Exports have already exceeded $110 million in 2022, thanks to increased exports of barley and malt (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Australian AFF exports to Mexico, January 2016 to April 2022
Resources
The Australian Government’s network of Agriculture Counsellors provided information for this article. More information about the Agriculture Counsellor network, including contact details, is available on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website.
Austrade has more information on the Mexican economy and doing business in Mexico.
Go further, faster with Austrade
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