Fish catch per year: 1.37m tonnes

Oil production and reserves: 3.59m b/d (reserves 12.6bn barrels)

Estimated livestock resources: 30.6m cattle, 17m pigs, 9.4m goats, 521m chickens

Main mineral resources: Oil, gas, gold, silver, copper, coal, fluorite, mercury, antimony

ELECTRICITY GENERATION

Mexico is one of the largest oil exporters outside OPEC. Most oil production comes from offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The industry was state-owned and state-run by PEMEX, the world's fifth-largest oil company, employing 120,000 people. The decision to privatize petrochemical plants has provoked serious social unrest, and further sell-offs and deregulation remain politically highly sensitive. Despite its oil reserves, Mexico has embarked on a nuclear power program and projects to modernize the national electricity grid and boost natural gas production to overcome an energy crisis.

From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference" © Dorling Kindersley 2004