The Mexico chemical industry faces challenges in the coming years, said National Chemical Industry Association (ANIQ) foreign trade director Guillermo Miller said this week.
There has been a decline in chemical production from Mexico's state-owned Pemex. The company produced around 9mn metric tonnes (t) of chemicals in 2010 but only 2.5mn t in 2024. This is a challenge to the industry which needs to find formulas that allow Pemex to increase production, Miller said at the UTECH Las Americas polyurethane conference in Mexico City, Mexico.
Additionally, investment has slowed into the chemicals industry in Mexico. The last peak was in 2014 for a polyethylene project. Logistics also pose a challenge for the country and increase costs as the current infrastructure is forcing product to move around to be used, said Miller.
Mexico currently relies heavily on imports of chemical feedstocks, with the majority coming from the US. The availability of raw materials is extremely limited, especially for byproducts of natural gas, ethane and propane.
Despite these challenges, the chemical industry, which was 1.7pc of the country's GDP in 2024, is projected to have growth of 5pc on average over the next 10 years, Miller said. There also remains a strong demand for polyurethane since Mexico is in the top five countries for car and refrigerator production and is first in television production, said Miller.
The country should focus on innovation, infrastructure, certainty in investments and addressing the raw material shortage, said Miller.
