The WTO details in its study Trade in medical articles in the context of addressing Covid-19 that in the first quarter of 2020, Mexico had a growth of 8.4% in export of products for protection against the coronavirus.

Luis Manuel Hernández González, president of the National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (Index), mentioned that in the medical industry in Mexico the demand for respiratory and kidney products grew.

“Everything that is renal and respiratory grew a lot, skeletal muscle did not grow, what happens is that regardless of whether it has not grown and the first two, we could make Mexico be in that fifth place,” he said.

The main products that Mexico exported were all related to respiratory, he pointed out, such as products for intubation, breathing masks, among others.

Hernández González said that approximately 50% of the demand was covered by Baja California, since the Latin American Medical Cluster is located in Tijuana, in addition, the growth was due to the pandemic.

He stressed that the increase in exports from the medical cluster generated between 7,000 and 12,000 jobs in Baja California, however, it is not a significant increase, because creating additional lines requires many variations.

He commented that in Mexico there are few industries dedicated to the manufacture of face masks and they are located in Mérida, but in Tijuana there is a company dedicated to this product, which is one of the most demanded worldwide.

The WTO highlights that in the first half of 2020 the importation of facial protection products increased by 90% compared to the same period in 2019, and the textile trade in face masks grew six times more.

It reports that Mexico was one of the main exporters to the United States, since it exported 5,247 million dollars, which was 14.5% of the total, and compared to 2019 was an increase of 5.4%.

The international trade in face masks went from having a value of $ 37.98 billion in 2019 to $ 70.22 billion in 2020, when in previous years its increase was 0.2%.

Respiratory products in 2019 were exported globally three thousand 870 million dollars, which increased to six thousand 55 million dollars in 2020, and represents a growth of 56.5%.