A group of businessmen from the United States, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, and Japan are targeting Querétaro to invest more than 94 billion pesos (US$5.4bn) in expanding production lines and relocating factories and plants from Asia and Eastern Europe to Mexico.
“In Querétaro, we have a portfolio of 54 investment projects that, if completed, will all be close to 94 billion pesos (or 5.4 billion US dollars) and will generate more than 20,000 new jobs,” reveals Marco Antonio del Prete Tercero, Secretary of Sustainable Development ( Sedesu) of Querétaro.
The investment projects are focused on the manufacturing industry and some on information technology, he details to Forbes Mexico.
According to the former director of Tourism Promotion at the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur), of the 54 investment projects, at least 14 are aligned with the expansions of companies that already have a plant or production line in Querétaro.
“We can see that there is a great appetite to relocate productions, that is, there are 14 companies that are looking to expand their production lines and production packages in Querétaro,” comments the official.
The former Secretary of Sustainable Development of the Municipality of Querétaro adds that a large number of the investment projects proposed to reach the entity are from companies from Asia, thanks to the nearshoring phenomenon.
“Of the 54 investment projects with interest in relocating to Querétaro, at least 9 are from China, 2 from Singapore, and 1 from Taiwan,” says Del Prete Tercero.
The secretary says that Mexican businessmen top the list of investments in plants and factories in his state, followed by the appetite of investors from the United States, Germany, and Spain.
He adds that access to electrical energy is guaranteed for investors interested in installing a factory, plant, or production line.
Also, he said, the entity invests in the generation of talent so that it can be used in the relocation of companies from Asia, the United States, and Eastern Europe.
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Another of the strategies drawn up to attract foreign investors is the development of suppliers, “because it is of no use to us to bring an international company so that there is no one to supply it and if they do supply it, they must be companies from the domestic market and the Bajío region.”
The construction of industrial infrastructure is key for Querétaro to benefit from nearshoring, declares Del Prete Tercero.
During the first half of 2023, gross absorption in the Querétaro industrial warehouse market showed a year-on-year growth of 69%, with 17 transactions equivalent to 1.91 million square feet consolidated, says the consulting firm Market Analysis.
Querétaro is the second state in the Bajío region where the most industrial warehouses were rented, followed by Guanajuato.
86% of the spaces rented to industrial park developers were allocated for the construction of manufacturing plants, especially for the automotive, electrical, electronics, supply chain, and pharmaceutical industries.
The companies that rent the industrial warehouses in Querétaro come from the United States, the Netherlands, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, Canada, China, Germany, France and Japan.
The companies Avery, RP Tech, CJ Logistic, Magna, and Oxxo were the ones that rented the most space in industrial warehouses in Querétaro during the first half of 2023, according to Market Analysis.
From January to July 2023, the flow of foreign direct investment fell more than 30% to Querétaro, according to the Ministry of Economy (SE).
Querétaro received 500 million dollars of capital in the first half of 2023, compared to 714 million dollars, according to the agency in charge of Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez.
Entrepreneurs have made greater reinvestments of profits in the last 4 years in the economy of Querétaro.
Source: Forbes Mexico
