From Brazilian to Mexican Pans: Tramontina Rewrites Globalization

When distance stops being efficient, producing for export becomes unviable, and the geography of business changes. Tramontina reached that point.

After nearly three decades supplying the Mexican market from Brazil, the home goods company broke with that model and installed its first plant in the country, investing 500 million pesos (about $29 million) in Lerma, State of Mexico. The facility—with an initial capacity of around 1.2 million pans per year—is part of a broader plan (2025–2027) that includes a logistics center, corporate expansion and new showrooms, aiming to consolidate Mexico as a regional hub for North America and Latin America.

Proximity to the market shortens timelines and allows production to adjust to local demand in an environment where operating at a distance has become more costly and uncertain.

Starting in 2025, the United States tightened its trade policy toward Brazil, imposing tariffs as high as 50% on key sectors such as steel and aluminum. Although a global tariff scheme of between 10% and 15% was later adopted, higher rates remained in strategic industries. In parallel, Mexico also raised tariffs on imports from countries without trade agreements, increasing the cost of key inputs and adding friction to production chains.

That effect is amplified when considering that around 15% of Brazilian exports depend on North America, and it is already reflected in how large companies—such as Tramontina and, previously, Gerdau and WEG—organize their operations at a national level.

Nowadays, about 716 Brazilian companies operate in Mexico and, between 2024 and 2025, their number grew by 22%, while total investment fell by 41%, pointing to expansion driven by operational structures rather than new projects. Even so, the flow continues: as of mid-2025, at least 42 companies planned to open operations in the country, in a dynamic where for every Mexican firm entering Brazil, 21 Brazilian firms are seeking to establish themselves in Mexico.

At the company level, the scope of the move becomes clearer: in Brazil, the company operates at least 10 plants totaling around 300,000 square meters, while in Mexico its industrial presence is still incipient, with two facilities—including its new factory—that together total around 37,000 square meters. That difference does not point to a substitution, but to an expansion across a second geography.

The distribution of its revenues reinforces that logic: Brazil accounts for around two-thirds of the total, compared to roughly one-tenth in North America, which explains why the adjustment does not replace its core production base, but replicates it in key markets.

What is emerging is not relocation in the traditional sense, but a more refined reorganization of production. Instead of concentrating capacity in a single origin, companies are distributing it based on their most sensitive markets, reducing exposure to an increasingly unstable geopolitical and economic environment. In that framework, producing closer to the market is not only about costs, but about maintaining operational continuity.

Thus, rather than a retreat of globalization, what is taking place is an adjustment in its operating conditions. In that process, producing for multiple markets from a single base ceases to be the standard and becomes a decision that increasingly requires justification.

Details behind these dynamics—from cap rates to absorption and performance by corridor—can be found on SiiLA Market Analytics or via contacto@siila.com.mx.