From manufacturing to resale: the impact of global disruption on Mexican pharmaceutical industry (2020-2025)

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate trade fluctuations, import volumes of critical medical supplies, and the decline of local pharmaceutical manufacturing in Mexico during the 2020-2025 period through analysis of official customs and economic repositories.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional and longitudinal descriptive study was conducted based on an iterative analytical reasoning process. Official repositories were consulted: UN Comtrade, BCMM-INEGI, Data México, ENIFARM, DENUE, and EMIM. Inclusion criteria were applied based on institutional provenance, temporal continuity, and granularity of tariff categorical variables (HS and SCIAN). Values were deflated using the INPC to obtain constant prices, and the Real Annual Variation Rate was calculated.

Results: Vaccine imports (HS 300220) from the United States grew 6.57% in value and 51.60% in physical volume between 2022 and 2024, with a reduction in the implicit unit price. Exports to France and the European Union fell between 48.83% and 49.30% between 2023 and 2024. The industry imported 205,412 million pesos in medicines for resale without transformation (2019-2022). Corporations with R&D activities contracted 16.5% between 2021 and 2022.

Conclusions: Mexico presents a structural pharmaceutical trade deficit that was consolidated following the 2020 health disruption. The industry shifted toward importation for direct resale, with contraction of local manufacturing and the research and technological development ecosystem.

Keywords: Economics, Pharmaceutical; Drug Industry; Commerce; Vaccines; Mexico.