Mexico is going through aindustrial boom“caused by the nearshoringwhich is the transfer of foreign companies in search of manufacturing points that allow their products to be distributed without affecting the supply chains, for which reason the national territory has positioned itself as the ideal place for such purposes.
This trend has led to a flood of investment and accelerated growth of the real estate. Currently, the demand for industrial spaces in the country is at least four times higher than the one registered a year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Pedro Valdés, general director of Escala, in 2019 300,000 square meters of warehouses were required, while, in 2022, companies demanded 1.4 million square meters of industrial real estate space.
“There is a lot of demand and few spaces available, so the construction sector it will continue to grow strongly in the following years to cover these needs”, commented the manager during his participation in a meeting organized by Invest Monterrey.
Given their manufacturing vocation, the northern states have been the main beneficiaries; Nuevo León has captured 50% of the investment, followed by Coahuila (11%), and Chihuahua (7%).
In this sense, Manuel Rodríguez, general director of Ainda Energía & Infraestructura, expressed that it is necessary to measure the opportunity that the Mexican nation has in its hands.
The specialist explained that China exports 4,000 billion dollars a year, so if Mexico takes 10% from it, one could speak of an 80% increase in the country’s exports. Given this scenario, he stressed that it is a priority to address the issue of infrastructure:
“In Nuevo León, the highway system has many bottlenecks between Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo. Also, the port capacity of the country will not be enough towards Asia and we know that Mazatlán is a facility with limitations,” Rodríguez said.
Delivery times and costs increase
The constant challenge to meet the demand for industrial ships in Mexico it is the infrastructure for electricity and water services. An issue that, according to the Ainda executive, the government will not solve on its own, but will require private investment.
“The only way (to take advantage of nearshoring) is with a government that is responsible for macroeconomic issues, and with private investment. Many states with occupations above 95%, because the offer is not increased, since the connection of new industrial parks to the electrical network is restricted. This restriction has consequences for economic and social growth,” said Rodríguez.
In this regard, Paulina González, director of the northeast region of American Industries, shared that there are projects with 15MW requirements, almost everything that an industrial park offers, for which they require their own substation.
This shortage of infrastructure has permeated the costs and times of construction of the industrial ships in Nuevo Leon. Today, the delivery of a building of this type can take eight months, when the average was four.
“In addition, the costs of new buildings increased 15% from the end of 2021 to the present. However, Mexico continues to be a competitive country with favorable costs against others such as the United States or China,” González concluded.
