Foreign Companies Interested in Building Investment in Tamaulipas in 2021

At least 60 companies with American, French, Italian, Korean and Chinese capital are interested in solidifying their investments in Tamaulipas in 2021, due to their plans for expansion.

According to the Minister of Economic Development Carlos García González, the main companies interested in building investment in Tamaulipas are American and Canadian companies in the medical, automotive and aerospace sectors that have heavy and light manufacturing in other parts of the world. There are also companies from Spain, France, Italy, South Korea and China that are looking to expand or move their manufacturing operations from Asian countries to Tamaulipas this year, particularly to Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, which will result in the creation of a thousand jobs in the region. 

García González said that companies take between three and six months to make a decision on the installation of their manufacturing outputs; however, this analysis period was delayed by almost a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, these companies would like to visit Tamaulipas when the health emergency allows it. 

Supply, link to attract investments to Tamaulipas

According to the Tamaulipas Private Sector, improving the supply chain that serves manufacturing, energy, petrochemical and agri-food industries will be key to attracting investments in the next few months, in addition to the state’s advantages in location, transport links, skilled workforce and its experience receiving private capital. 

Another advantage to consider is its relationships with Asian countries and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). As corporations in these nations want to break into the North American market, Tamaulipas becomes the best option to set up plants. 

Additionally, Carlos Montoya, President of the Council for the Economic and Industrial Development of Nuevo Laredo and Managing Director of Oradel Industrial Center, stated that strengthening the rule of law in Mexico is the main challenge for attracting investment in Tamaulipas, as well as adding value to industry in cities such as Nuevo Laredo, where maquilas (in-bond manufacturers) currently need logistics spaces. 

Eight strategic productive sectors in Tamaulipas

Without a doubt, Tamaulipas is recognized as having eight Strategic Productive Sectors, which are crucial for the state’s development:

-Automotive and auto parts: Links the manufacture of auto parts with the production of final automotive products, as well as the creation and strengthening of companies that supply sub-assemblies. 

This sector is located in northern part of the state, houses 80 companies and creates more than 45,000 jobs across Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa. 

-Electrical-Electronic: The production capacity for end consumer items increases every day in this sector, managing to form a chain of more than 90 companies on the state’s border, mainly in the city of Reynosa. The chain supplies both national and foreign market demand, with products such as batteries, car stereos, radio and television equipment, accessories for refrigerators and cell phones, while also creating more than 53,000 paid jobs. 

-Chemical-Petrochemical: This sector, located in Altamira, is considered the most important petrochemical cluster in Mexico as 80% of thermoplastic resins in Mexico are manufactured in this region. Therefore, it provides a major platform in this industry for the growth and development of important industrial chains, such as textiles, automotive, logistics, electronics, construction, plastics, food and chemicals. Currently, it has about 42 companies and more than 8,400 employees. 

-Foreign Trade Reverse Logistics: This sector has shown its productive potential in recent years, becoming an important creator of jobs in Tamaulipas since the development of this industry implies the performance of repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing processes that allow the reuse of products while guaranteeing their quality, resulting in the efficient management of financial resources and taking care of the environment. In addition, it has created more than 6,500 jobs through 11 companies located in the main border development, from Nuevo Laredo to Reynosa and Matamoros.

Some of the main products developed are hydraulic steering, hydraulic pumps and augers remanufacture, manufacture and assembly of metal parts, repair and assembly of cell phone components, remanufacture of computers and laptops, repair of cell phones, repair and assembly of battery chargers and remanufacture of gears and alternators. 

-Information Technology: The companies in this sector congregate in Tamaulipas through the Tit@m cluster (Tamaulipas Information Technology), in which the student sector and the State Government also participate as facilitators under the triple helix model. 

This sector, based in Tecnotam Park (Tamaulipas Scientific and Technological Park) allows the gathering of professionals and researchers with specialized knowledge in the field that strengthen one of the fastest growing global sectors which, in addition to contributing to global technological development, allows new values to demonstrate their skills and excel in their areas. 

-Aerospace: This sector is one of the growing industries, which is developing mainly in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros creating 8,200 jobs.

It aims to manufacture fiber optic cables, hydraulic rubbers, electrical components, bearings, airplane and helicopter accessories, high precision stamping processes, cables and harnesses, electronic connectors, as well as repair turbines. 

This industry is supported by the large amount of labor available in the local population, resulting in increased job creation and high productivity for companies. 

-Medical: The production of medical equipment has increased its capacity through the assembly and manufacture of medical equipment, plastic injection, development of tools for insulin injection and the creation of inputs and products such as ultrasonic cleaning equipment, and the manufacture of masks and nebulizers.

This sector has created about 15,275 jobs through 13 companies located in Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa. 

-Logistics: Tamaulipas is considered the state with the best links to the United States, with 17 international crossings, 14 vehicular bridges and 2 railway bridges. 

In addition, it has five bonded warehouses on the border and two in the sea ports that strengthen the state’s international trade efforts.

Currently, more than a third of Mexico’s foreign trade passes through border crossings and sea ports, and the five highway links, with a length of 1,855 kilometers, connect the northwestern, central and coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and western Mexico. 

Likewise, Tamaulipas has five international airports, more than 13,000 kilometers of highways and roads, and 968 kilometers of railway lines.

Tamaulipas, third in Mexico for Foreign Direct Investment

According to Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, Tamaulipas is in third place in Mexico for the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year, attracting 10% of Mexico’s total FDI in 2020 despite a national decrease of 19.5%.

This demonstrates the confidence created by Government of Tamaulipa’s public policy, which provides for conditions of job stability, confidence, legal certainty and the facilitating of the development of projects in the productive sectors, especially those that are expanding their investment in Tamaulipas. 

The Governor of Tamaulipas highlighted that, thanks to the productive sectors’ efforts, the confidence of domestic and foreign investors, and economic policy, the state received over $1.5 million in 2017, a little over $1.5 million in 2018 and a little over $1.6 million in 2019, setting 3 of the 4 records for Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico in the last 20 years. 

Also, Tamaulipas accumulated more than 5.8 billion dollars in FDI from 2016 to 2020 from companies in the manufacturing sector (44.3%), electrical energy (19.8%), mining (12.6%), trade (6.4%) and financial and insurance services (5.8%) from the United States (44.5%), Spain (14.3%), the Netherlands (7.1%), Australia (6.2%) and Canada (5.2%).

Oradel Industrial Center, located in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, is committed to providing industrial buildings to international companies that want to establish their manufacturing operations in a space with all production services that they may need, while being located just 10 minutes from the United States-Mexico border bridges.