UPDATE 2-Mexico auto output, exports fall again on semiconductor shortage

Adds comments from General Motors, production data

MEXICO CITY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Mexican automotive production and exports fell for the fifth month running in November, figures from the national statistics agency (INEGI) showed on Monday, as ongoing shortages of semiconductors put the brakes on the industry.

Mexican automotive production plunged by 20.25% from November 2020 to 248,960 vehicles, while auto exports declined by 16.46% to 240,341 units, the INEGI data showed.

A global semiconductor shortage has prompted automakers in Mexico and the rest of North America to implement rolling shutdowns, curtailing production and hitting workers hard.

"The stoppages are due to the shortage of semiconductors and yes production decreased due to the shortage," a spokesperson for the Mexico operations of Detroit-based General Motors Co GM.N said in response to a query about falling output.

INEGI data showed that GM Mexico's production fell 43.7% in November from a year earlier, to 40,534 units.

Mexico's auto production fell by 20% to 3.04 million vehicles last year during the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic, and the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) has forecast that it could drop by up to 5% more in 2021.

In the first 11 months of 2021, Mexican automotive production fell by 0.68% from the same period last year to 2,767,004 vehicles, while auto exports over the same period increased by 3.02% to 2,479,515 units, INEGI figures show.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito in Mexico City and Ricardo Figueroa and Marion Giraldo in Santiago; Editing by Ed Osmond, Mark Porter, William Maclean)

((dave.graham@thomsonreuters.com; +52 55 5282 7146; Reuters Messaging: dave.graham.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))