Competitiveness and trade imbalance of Mexico in the world beef market, 1990-2016

Economic integration favors trade liberalization allowing countries to access a broader market and offers goods of higher quality and lower price to consumers due to competition. For Mexico and its beef market, this premise is questionable when identifying a disequilibrium in its commercial balance that suffers lags in the design and implementation of policies that strengthen the competitiveness of exports within the framework of the implementation of trade agreements and treaties. The aim of this paper is to estimate the competitiveness of Mexican beef exports under the protection of trade integration. The hypothesis underlying this approach is that, to enjoy the benefits of trade integration, it is necessary to formulate policies that, in the long term, strengthen the competitiveness of activities and counteract the impact of the deficit on the trade balance of agricultural products. For this, participation and commercial flow indicators were calculated, finding that trade openness favored beef import, and that despite sustained growth in exports, it was not possible to compensate for the deficit in the trade balance. Therefore, public policy is required to strengthen activities such as the production of bovine meat for export by adopting standards and certifications.