Why Latin American Companies Come to Mexico

Mexico’s geography allows Latin American companies to sell, manufacture, or export from a single territory.

Peter N. Barry serves as Chairman of WEG Electric, the Brazilian company with the largest industrial footprint in Mexico. Photo: SiiLA.

By: SiiLA News

07/13/2026

Not all Latin American companies come to Mexico for the same reason. While some see the country as a market of more than 130 million consumers, others use it as an industrial platform to supply North America.

Together, they account for 1% of industrial tenants and nearly 3% of occupied gross leasable area across the main industrial markets in northern, central, and Bajío Mexico, according to SiiLA.

Most Latin American companies come to Mexico to serve the domestic market. The data¹ show that 74% primarily serve Mexican consumers or industries, another 12% combine domestic operations with exports, and only 9% focus mainly on international markets, particularly the United States. The remainder consists of government agencies, international organizations, and service companies whose activities are not tied to a specific geographic market.

That presence is also unevenly distributed across the region’s countries. Including Mercado Libre, Argentina ranks as the leading Latin American country of origin by both the number of industrial buildings and occupied space in Mexico’s industrial market. However, that position is largely explained by Mercado Libre itself, which alone accounts for 29% of the industrial buildings occupied by Latin American and Caribbean companies, as well as 60% of the occupied gross leasable area they use in Mexico. Excluding Mercado Libre, Brazil moves into first place, representing 30% of tenants, 38% of industrial buildings, and roughly 390,000 square meters of occupied space. Colombia ranks next by occupied area, with nearly 170,000 square meters, ahead of Argentina, which falls to just over 130,000.

A single company changes the way an entire region is understood.

Beyond differences among countries, the defining characteristic shared by these companies lies in the type of operations they carry out in Mexico.

Manufacturing, transportation and logistics, together with utilities related to electricity generation and distribution, account for 70% of the occupied gross leasable area used by Latin American and Caribbean companies and 56% of tenants.

That profile confirms that Latin America’s presence extends beyond corporate offices, retail locations, or distribution centers. Much of it consists of operations embedded in the country’s productive structure: manufacturing plants, logistics networks, and infrastructure tied to essential activities that move, produce, and supply goods.

The location of these operations generally reflects the destination of their production and distribution. Companies serving the domestic market tend to cluster in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), while export-oriented operations are primarily located along the industrial corridors of northern Mexico and the Bajío, where they integrate into North America’s manufacturing supply chains.

As a result, central Mexico accounts for 57% of the occupied gross leasable area and 44% of the industrial buildings used by Latin American and Caribbean companies, with a particularly strong presence in the CTT submarket (Cuautitlán, Tultitlán, and Tepotzotlán). Mercado Libre explains much of that concentration, with 64% of its industrial footprint located in the region. Even excluding the company, however, the MCMA still accounts for nearly half of the occupied space used by Latin American companies.

Outside its productive value, Mexico’s geography does more than connect markets. It allows a company originally designed to serve a domestic market to become a regional player, or enables a regional operation to integrate into one of the world’s largest manufacturing supply chains.

Explore more industrial market analysis at SiiLA Market Analytics or contact us at contacto@siila.com.mx.

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¹ The classification of the target market for companies originating in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexican market, international market, or both) was estimated based on each company’s business model, the nature of its products, and publicly available information about its operations. This is an analytical classification developed by SiiLA.

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