Nearshoring Draws 15 Italian Companies to Mexico

Amid the global business shift following the COVID-19 pandemic, international investors have set their eyes on Mexico in recent months and plan to establish their operations there thanks to the phenomenon called nearshoring, said Karen Harris, Expert in Macro Trend, Bain & Company. In this context, Mexico will accommodate 15 Italian companies belonging to the food, agro-industrial, biomedical and technological sectors. The companies will invest in the construction of infrastructure and transfer of their production lines from Asia, the US and Europe to Mexico.

According to Lorenzo Vianello, President, the Chamber of Italian Commerce in México (CCIM), many Italian companies have recently arrived in Mexico, as well as others that after the pandemic seek to invest in the country. "I cannot yet reveal the announcements of the companies involved because this is still confidential, but we are talking about extremely important investments,” Vianello told Forbes.

Lorenzo also added that there are several Italian regions with clusters of different economic sectors highly interested in coming to Mexico. “I had meetings with them to give them a panorama of the country,” he said.

Mexico’s automotive industry is strong, but there is a lot of interest from other sectors in investing in the country, assured Vianello. “In 2022, 10 companies of the automotive industry arrived in Mexico due to nearshoring and the strengthening of the USMCA treaty,” added the Italian businessman.

These companies are interested in evaluating the possibility of investing in Mexico and gaining access to the US market. The geographical proximity of Mexico and its commercial integration with its trading partners placed the country as a key option for companies to take advantage of nearshoring opportunities in Latin America.

According to a survey conducted by Banxico, 16 percent of companies nationwide reported increases in demand for their products or direct foreign investment as a result of nearshoring in the past year. Of these, entrepreneurs located in the northern region of the country stand out, with 19.7 percent of respondents, as do those from the north-central region, with 14.8 percent.