Latin America. At the opening of the INA PAACE Automechanika Mexico City 2022, the general director of the National Auto Parts Industry of Mexico (INA), Francisco González, stressed that the automotive and auto parts sector is the largest generator of foreign exchange in the country.
In the opening speech of the 24th version of the most important fair for the automotive, manufacturing and services aftermarket in Mexico, the general director of the INA stressed in turn that this industry moves more than tourism and oil and produces about 900,000 jobs in the country.
"We are growing and will continue to do so so I am confident that we will have a position of greater leadership in the future. Our industry needs to look to the future," said González, who acknowledged that in recent years the sector has had important advances but also complicated moments such as the shortage in supplies of raw materials and components or cost increases derived from the pandemic.
"As electric vehicles have greater market penetration, auto parts manufacturers are preparing to take advantage of new opportunities," he added.
In a column about the benefits of nearshoring for Latin America, and in particular for the auto parts sector in Mexico, the director pointed to an estimated $3 billion opportunity in the supply chain. This is due to the effect of the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, which led to an increase from 12% in 2020 to 50% at the end of 2021 of the companies of this Mexican industry.
The agreements of the Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) have also contributed to this sector with the capture of US $ 524,000 million of foreign direct investment in the first four months of this 2022. In this way, it has become the main supplier of the US market.
To this is added the current situation in the price of freight of auto parts from Asia, which is seven times more expensive as explained by the journalist and analyst Cesar Roy Ocotla, with more than 45 years of experience in the automotive sector. This "forces the local industry to acquire more from domestic suppliers, which has increased the value of production and sales in this sector," he says.
Hence the estimates of the INA to close with a production of US $ 102,000 million and retain the fourth world position as a producer and exporter of auto parts. This would be reaffirmed by the general director of Heavy Industries and High Technology of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Elodina Guerra, in her own speech.
Official opening
In his initial greeting, Gonzalez celebrated the return "with renewed rivers" of the automotive industry's number one exhibition after last year's digital version.
For his part, the senior VP of Messe Frankfurt, Stephen Kurzawski, welcomed the 170 exhibiting companies and stressed that the fair will show technology and innovation to face objectives such as CO2 reduction and supply chains.
These are some of the topics included in the more than 75 free training seminars that attendees at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico City, 85% of them decision makers, will be able to enjoy from today until Friday.
