Plastic resin for plants in Mexico

How plants in Mexico can take U.S. resin

• FOB a U.S. warehouse. The quote covers the resin loaded at the shipping warehouse. Your carrier or freight forwarder picks it up and moves it south. Our standard terms are FOB the shipping warehouse, and we have access to 100+ partner warehouse locations.
• Moved to a border city. Other plants have the load taken to their forwarder’s or broker’s warehouse in a crossing city such as Laredo, El Paso or Nogales, where the cross-border carrier takes over. Tell us the border city, and we will go over freight with you.

Either way, your agente aduanal handles the Mexican side: the pedimento, duties and taxes, and any IMMEX declarations. Give us the name of your broker or forwarder early, so the documents match what they file.

The import side, in brief

• Pedimento. Under Mexico’s Ley Aduanera, goods brought into Mexico under a customs regime are declared on an electronic pedimento (Art. 36). Clearance is handled by the importer itself or through an agente aduanal or agencia aduanal (Art. 40). The value and sales data from the invoice (or equivalent document) and the data from the packing list or transport documents are sent electronically as annexes to the pedimento (Art. 36-A).
• Padrón de Importadores. The importer must be registered in the SAT’s importer registry (Art. 59, section IV).
• U.S. export filing. Electronic Export Information (EEI) generally has to be filed in AES when the value under one Schedule B number is over $2,500. In a routed export, where your company controls the movement, your authorized U.S. agent prepares and files it unless you authorize the seller to. Agree on this with your forwarder before the first load.

The Ley Aduanera was last amended in November 2025, and customs practice changes often. Your agente aduanal has the current requirements. Nothing on this page is customs, tax or legal advice.

Documents buyers usually ask for

• Commercial invoice, with the value and description data your broker uses for the pedimento.
• Packing list, with lot numbers, package count and weights.
• Certificate of analysis (COA). A supplier COA comes with every prime lot. See what a COA shows and what to check.
• Technical data sheet (TDS), for qualification and incoming inspection.
• Safety data sheet (SDS) in Spanish, where required. NOM-018-STPS-2015 requires employers to have SDSs for the hazardous chemicals and mixtures handled at the workplace, and the SDS must be written or held in Spanish (numerals 6.3 and 9.1). Whether a given grade falls under it depends on its hazard classification. Tell us at quote time if your plant needs a Spanish SDS, and we will check whether one is available for that grade.
• USMCA certification of origin, only if it applies. See the next section.

List the documents your broker and quality team need in the quote request. For U.S. paperwork in general, see resin compliance documents.

USMCA certification of origin: only when the resin qualifies

Under USMCA Chapter 5, an importer can claim preferential tariff treatment based on a certification of origin completed by the exporter, the producer or the importer (Art. 5.2). There is no required format, but it must include the nine minimum data elements in Annex 5-A. It can cover one shipment or repeat shipments of identical goods over a period of up to 12 months, and an exporter that is not the producer can certify based on reasonable reliance on the producer’s written representation (Art. 5.3).

Whether a resin qualifies depends on where and how it was made and on the rule of origin for its tariff classification (Chapter 4). The agreement also does not let a country require an exporter or producer to issue a certification. So we do not promise one up front. Whether a certification can be provided depends on the producer’s origin information for that grade. Ask by grade at quote time, and plan your landed cost both ways until it is confirmed.

IMMEX plants: temporary import basics

IMMEX is a Secretaría de Economía program for companies that temporarily import goods for an industrial process of elaboration, transformation or repair for export. It defers the general import duty, VAT and, where they apply, countervailing duties on those imports. Under Ley Aduanera Art. 108, raw materials that go entirely into exported goods can stay in Mexico under temporary import for up to 18 months.

The program is yours, and your agente aduanal declares the resin as a temporary import under your IMMEX program. Nothing changes in how we quote or ship. Companies importing under these regimes must keep an automated inventory control system (Art. 59, section I), so consistent descriptions, lot numbers and weights on the invoice and packing list help. Tell us what your broker needs.

One USMCA point matters here. If your finished parts are exported to the U.S. or Canada, USMCA Article 2.5 limits how much customs duty Mexico may waive or reduce on non-originating materials used in them. That is one reason IMMEX plants ask whether a resin is USMCA-originating. Your broker can tell you how it applies to your parts.

Lead time, payment and samples

• Lead time and payment terms are confirmed with each quote. Credit terms are available after approval. For W-9 and credit application requests, see vendor setup.
• Samples of about 50 lb to qualify a production grade, upon credit approval. To run a full production trial first, see the one-gaylord trial lot.
• Orders from one gaylord (about 1,000 to 1,600 lb) to a truckload or railcar. See gaylord vs. LTL and truckload.

What we quote

Commodity, engineering and specialty resins through our supply partners, plus custom compounding and color. A polymer chemist reviews every request and matches your grade or proposes a matched alternative, subject to your approval. ResinBridge was founded by a family with 30+ years in the resin business.

Materials buyers in Mexico often ask about: polypropylene, PP homopolymer and impact copolymer, TPU, nylon 6 and 66, glass-filled nylon, PC/ABS, TPE and TPV and color and compounds. Industry pages: automotive, electrical and electronics, appliances.

For buyers: How to buy resin · Supplying resin to your molder · Small orders · Send an RFQ package · Buyer FAQ

Common questions

Sources

• Ley Aduanera, current text, last amended DOF 19-11-2025 (Cámara de Diputados, PDF): Arts. 36, 36-A, 40, 59, 108
• SAT: Padrón de Importadores, registration
• ANAM, Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México
• Secretaría de Economía (SNICE): IMMEX program, about
• NOM-018-STPS-2015, DOF 9 Oct 2015 (numerals 6.3, 6.8 and 9.1)
• USTR: USMCA Chapter 5, Origin Procedures (PDF)
• USTR: USMCA Chapter 4, Rules of Origin (PDF)
• USTR: USMCA Chapter 2, Art. 2.5 Drawback and Duty Deferral Programs (PDF)
• CBP: USMCA, certification of origin and minimum data elements
• U.S. Census Bureau: Quick Guide to the Foreign Trade Regulations (15 CFR Part 30), EEI and routed exports (PDF)