In Mexico, it is often said that Coca-Cola opens roads. In remote mountain regions where few services reach, its red trucks carve paths to deliver their product. The image is picturesque, but it reflects a reality: the company operates one of the most extensive industrial and logistics networks in the consumer sector in the country.

For decades, its logic was straightforward: sell more soda and build more infrastructure to produce and distribute it. Today, however, that equation is beginning to change.

An 87% increase in the tax on sugary beverages is forcing the company to redesign something deeper than its prices: the chemistry of its products, its portfolio, and the economics of its production infrastructure.

In that context, Coca-Cola announced a $6 billion investment in Mexico, adding to the roughly 300 million pesos ($17.5 million) invested last year in a carbon dioxide plant in the State of Mexico.

While the facility will allow the company to secure a key input for beverage production and reduce costs within its own industrial chain, the new investment aims to prepare the system for a more demanding economic and fiscal environment. Part of that effort involves adapting infrastructure to a portfolio that will change in the coming years.

The company expects that by the end of this year, nearly 70% of its beverages will have reduced their sugar content through the use of non-caloric sweeteners. The strategy not only responds to changing consumer preferences. It also lowers the tax burden, as low-calorie beverages pay roughly half the tax.

The adjustment comes at a moment of greater financial caution. By the end of 2025, Coca-Cola FEMSA reported a year-over-year reduction of 11.3% in capital expenditures and said it will prioritize investments capable of improving operational efficiency and protecting margins in an environment where the Bank of Mexico expects the country’s GDP to grow just 1.6% in 2026, with more moderate consumption expectations.

The scale of the system explains why these adjustments go beyond the product portfolio.

Coca-Cola FEMSA operates 28 plants, 146 distribution centers, and more than 860,000 points of sale in Mexico, with close to half of its productive, logistics, and commercial infrastructure in Latin America. In total, its industrial facilities exceed 1.7 million square meters.

Between 2014 and 2024 alone, the company’s production infrastructure—excluding distribution centers and points of sale—grew by around 60%, while the base of consumers served increased by roughly 10% since 2015. The contrast reveals the challenge the industry now faces: make a network designed to expand faster than the market now grows more efficient.

The paradox is evident. Mexico remains the country with the highest per-capita soft drink consumption in the world. According to Euromonitor, each Mexican consumes an average of 163 liters per year, 40% more than in the United States and more than six times the global average.

In this scenario, so-called “health taxes” are not stopping the beverage industry. They are forcing it to change its recipe—its formula, infrastructure, and investment—and, with it, the way it will open new paths in the years ahead.

More details on the performance of real estate market players in Mexico are available through SiiLA Market Analytics or at contacto@siila.com.mx.