Mexico’s mining, construction and manufacturing industries raised their prices last month from a year ago, because, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, demand elevated.
The mining industry increased prices by 9.14pc annually in August, the National Statistics Agency (Inegi) said in a September 9 statement.
Meanwhile, the construction and manufacturing industries respectively increased their prices by 1.92pc and 6.39pc last month from a year earlier.
Mexico’s mining output increased by 2.2pc in June from the same month in 2019, on higher zinc and lead production, according to the latest Inegi data. However, Mexico’s mining industry lost $4.8bn in revenue because companies were forced to suspended activities for about two months to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, according to Fernando Quiroga Alanis, president of the Mexican Mining Chamber (Camimex).
Mexico’s construction output declined by 32.3pc during the same period because civil engineering and infrastructure projects were shelved during the pandemic-induced lockdown period this spring, which has also adversely affected steel demand. In 2020, at least 100,000 workers in the country’s construction industry lost their jobs, again because of the pandemic, Inegi said.
The construction and steel industries have struggled since the pandemic’s outset. Mexico’s crude steel output decreased by 22.6pc to 1.15mn mt in July from 1.48mn mt during the same month last year, according to the latest figures released by the World Steel Association.