In late July the Wall Street Journal wrote about Mexico’s impressive $601-million trade surplus, which was realized during the month of June. According to the article, the surplus was due to gains in the export of manufactured goods, such as automobiles, which offset a reduction in the crude oil exports and imports.

The National Statistics Institute, also known as Inegi, said that exports in June of 2012 were at $30.26 billion, with imports at $29.66 billion. The impressive, more than $600-million trade surplus in June contrasted with a trade deficit of $100 million in the median estimate according with a number of leading economists at Dow Jones Newswires. The June surplus was greater than the May 2012 surplus of $363 million, and more than six times the June 2011 trade surplus of $94 million.

In June, Mexico’s state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, also known as Pemex, exported around 1.201 million barrels of crude oil each day and petroleum imports dropped 25 percent compared to June of 2011. The reason is that Pemex has been keeping more of its oil production in Mexico, keeping its reworked crude oil refineries busy and leaving less for exports.

“Mexico’s manufacturing exports grew 4.4 percent in June to $25.27 billion, with the automotive sector leading the way with a 14 percent increase compared with the year-ago month to $7.84 billion,” writes the Wall Street Journal. “Agricultural exports grew by 11 percent to $930 million and mining exports grew 35 percent to $428 million, Inegi said.”

Imports of consumer goods were at $3.99 billion in June, and imports of intermediate goods were at $22.56 billion, according to Inegi, which also reported that imports of capital goods hit $3.11 billion. 

Perhaps most impressive, however, is that Inegi reported on Mexico’s total trade surplus from January to June of 2011, which totaled $3.29 billion.