The presidents of CMN, CCE and Comce, three Mexican business organizations, presented their visions of nearshoring on Tuesday at the inauguration of the 29th Mexican Foreign Trade Congress in Mexico City. 

Rolando Vega, president of CMN, said it is clear that the nearshoring phenomenon is attracting important investments to Mexico.

«However, we must not forget that this window of opportunity will not be open permanently, and perhaps it is the United States itself that is our main competitor for the relocation of investments,» he added.

For his part, Valentín Díez Morodo, president of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce), stated that relocation brings production centers closer together to achieve a better productive chain, where Mexico has an advantage due to its experience gained through the maquila.

«Unfortunately, we have not been able to maximize this cross-border production sharing process, due to the lack of a comprehensive strategy to take advantage of the numerous comparative advantages and develop competitive advantages, which was the ultimate goal of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),» said Díez Morodo. 

Nearshoring 

Francisco Cervantes, president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), indicated that Mexico is experiencing a boom in investment. 

«In the field of investment, we are experiencing the best times as a percentage of this item with respect to the GDP, with around 25% of the same. In addition, foreign investment reached more than 32 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year,» commented Cervantes.

The combined size of Mexico’s industrial parks is almost double that of the other seven largest Latin American countries in this area, which gives the Mexican economy an advantage in attracting investment through relocation.

The extension of Mexico’s industrial parks is 59.88 square kilometers, while those seven nations together total 33.3 square kilometers, according to data from CBRE, a commercial real estate investment and services company.

In this indicator, Mexico triples Brazil (18.70 square kilometers) and is well ahead of the rest: Chile (5.40 km2), Colombia (2.40 km2), Costa Rica (2.30 km2), Argentina (2.10 km2), Peru (1.20 km2) and Panama (1.20 km2).