In the past 10 years Mexico's economy has doubled, making it the largest economy in Latin America. In 2003, Mexico had an estimated $168.9 billion dollars in imports. In recent years it has signed Free Trade Agreements, not only with the United States and Canada (NAFTA), but the European Union, several of their Latin American neighbors, as well as many Asian nations. These agreements mean that approximately 90% of all trade with Mexico is tariff free.

In Mexico, 61% of plastics machinery imports are directed towards injection-molding machines. Leading importers in this category are Japan, United States and Germany. These three countries account for 58% of the total amount of injectors imported.

Blow-molding machines represent 23% of the total, and extruders represent 10.5% of total imports. Thermoforming machines represent just 4% of the total plastics machinery imports.

The three leading plastics processing technology importers are United States (19.34%), Germany (17.2%) and Italy (14.8%). The European market is still the largest supplier of plastics machinery for the ALADI countries, with 49%, followed by the United States market with 26% and the Asian market with 17%.