Industry & Mining

At 17% of GDP, manufacturing is a pillar of the Mexican economy. More than at any point in the past 15 years, Mexican industry is today able to compete with China as a low-cost manufacturing alternative and with other high-income markets as a viable location for outsourcing sophisticated manufacturing. This is perhaps the most promising time for Mexican manufacturing since NAFTA was implemented 20 years ago. The story of the moment is Mexico’s surpassing China in labour cost competitiveness, a phenomenon that is hard to precisely quantify but whose consequences should be easy to see in the coming years. Moreover, reform in the energy sector has the potential to reduce costs in the long term, thus addressing one of the manufacturing industry’s greatest challenges. This chapter includes interviews with Ernesto M Hernández, President and Managing Director, General Motors de México; Louise Goeser, CEO, Siemens Mesoamérica; and Xavier García de Quevedo Topete, President, Minera México.