The interest of private investors in Mexico grew by $5.67 billion in the first two weeks of March, going from $25.84 billion at the end of February to $31.51 billion as of March 15. New projects stand out in the states of Guanajuato for $499 million, Aguascalientes with $315 million and Baja California with $312 million more, according to SteelOrbis analysis of data from the Ministry of Economy.
According to information from the Mexican government, in the first 15 days of March, new projects from investors in Argentina stood out with $2.45 billion for a total of $4.40 billion (13.9 percent of total investment announcements). Investors from the United States increased their interest by $2.17 billion to total $18.0 billion, that amount represents 57.1 percent of the total, according to the announcements recorded by the Ministry of Economy.
In the first half of March, Japan also stood out with $269 million; the country was not present in the Top 10 at the end of February. In that period, China also increased its projects by $224 million to total $1.81 billion. Taiwan also entered the list with $174 million.
In investment announcements, Germany stands out with $5.26 billion, with that figure ranking as the second largest investor, in the notifications recorded by the government. That amount remains practically unchanged compared to the end of February.
By industries, about the increase in the commercial sector that went from $86 million to $4.52 billion. The manufacturing industry is the main attraction magnet for investment. In the first half of March it increased by $1.08 billion to total $17.15 billion, a figure that represented 54.4 percent of the total.
By state, the largest increases were in Guanajuato with $499 million to total $884 million, in Aguascalientes they went from $501 million at the end of February to $816 million as of March 15; in Baja California they increased $312 million to $703 million; in Coahuila it increased by $247 million to total $887 million.
In the Top 15, which also includes San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Nuevo León, State of Mexico, Puebla, Durango, Colima, Hidalgo, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Tamaulipas, investment announcements went from $20.0 billion to $23.3 billion, an increase of $3.3 billion in two weeks.
Among the investment projects accounted for by the government are the Coca-Cola product bottler FEMSA with $9.96 billion, Amazon with $4.96 billion; DHL with $4.0 billion; Mercado Libre with $2.45 billion; Wal-Mart with $2.13 billion; Ternium with $1.95 billion; Volkswagen with $942 million; Solarever (China) $601 million, ELAM-FAW (China) $407 million and Nemak with $404 million.