The Ministry of Economy plans to attract two automobile production plants to the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT).
“The Texistepec area could provide for one or two automobile production lines or a line and a series of auto parts suppliers,” said Raquel Buenrostro, Secretary of the Economy, to businessmen in the sector.
Texistepec is one of the 10 development poles that the CIIT includes and one of the six that will be put out to tender next week.
In the case of the automotive industry, we see the pole that is in Texistepec as having great potential. Why? It is one of the largest in the entire corridor and it is in the Veracruz area, an area where it can be entered very quickly,” Buenrostro commented.
According to the federal government, this pole has a strategic location, since it has a frontage on the MEX-145D highway, in the section corresponding to the La Tinaja-Cosoleacaque Highway, and has potential for connectivity to other national and international markets. , since it is located 37 kilometers from the Port of Coatzacoalcos and 39.6 kilometers from the Minatitlán International Airport.
“It is very close to the port, we have the airports, we have several urban areas, here the total population along the Isthmus is 2.4 million inhabitants, similar to that of the state of Tabasco, Houston or Paris,” added Buenrostro.
The pole is located in Texistepec, Veracruz, whose neighboring municipalities are Jáltipan de Morelos, Soconusco, Hidalgotitlán, Jesús Carranza, Sayula de Alemán and Oluta, all in the state of Veracruz. Together, these municipalities have a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants, according to the 2020 census.
“There are enough people to dedicate themselves there to the industry that is installed. If they say, ‘it’s because maybe I can’t find the appropriate profiles here’, it doesn’t matter. The size and dimension of these communities make it possible to absorb the migration of profiles and talent that is required at the time”, argued Buenrostro.
In addition, Texistepec is close to Medias Aguas, which connects by train to the center of Mexico and also to the sides of the country.
Buenrostro said that if the automotive sector in Texistepec ever participates, expansion and development of the ports would be considered immediately.
She narrated that at some point, federal officials asked business chambers and company executives that if there was any interest in establishing automotive plants at the CIIT, they could do so with a direct award.
But because the bidding process for six CIIT development poles will begin next week, the term of these contests would have to end for just over 100 days to be able to talk again about a direct award.
Among the recent changes in the sector, the specific rules of origin of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC, in force since July 2000) are stricter, since the thresholds to confer origin are higher, in particular in the case of certain sectors such as automobiles, steel and aluminium. For example, for many automotive products, the Regional Value Content increased from 62.5% in NAFTA to 75% in the USMCA.
