UPDATE 2-Mexico April auto exports fall for fifth month

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MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) - Mexico's auto exports slipped 4.6 percent in April compared with the same month last year, an industry group said on Wednesday, the fifth consecutive monthly drop as slowing U.S. demand hits sales.

However, auto production rose 10.8 percent, the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) said, as car and truck makers bet on a rebound in exports to the United States by mid-year.

"We expect exports to begin to show signs of recovery in June," AMIA head Cesar Flores told reporters.

Mexico's economy depends heavily on U.S. demand, and the country's car factories are feeling the effects of a slowdown in U.S. appetite for manufactured goods, which some economists predict could be more prolonged than previously thought.

U.S. consumers buy more than half the cars and trucks Mexico produces, and plants producing vehicles and machinery for the United States are a key engine of Mexico's economy, which economists see growing about 3.5 percent this year.

Automakers in Mexico built 146,522 cars and trucks in April and exported 110,462.