•PLAYER: Mexico has emerged as a key supplier of medical goods critical to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, overtaking Japan as the world’s fifth-largest exporter of such products during the first half of 2020, according to a new report by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
•NUMBERS: Propelled by its proximity to the largest importer (the US), Mexican exports of coronavirus-critical products reached US $6.2 billion during the first half of 2020, according to the WTO’s preliminary assessment. The number for the same period of 2019 was US $5.7 billion.
•NEIGHBORS: “It is noteworthy that for each of (the three major markets of Covid-19-critical products), the other leading source of imports is a geographical neighbor -Mexico for the United States, the Netherlands for Germany, and Japan for China”, the WTO document says.
•EXPORTERS: The top exporters of medical products to fight coronavirus are China, the US, Germany and the Netherlands. Medical supplies considered critical to fight coronavirus include protective spectacles, syringes, patient monitors, pulse oximeters, face masks among others.
