Top tips for trading successfully with Mexico

Atradius has published a report outlining the most important principles for trading with Mexico.

A number of factors have combined to create a picture of opportunity for foreign companies looking to do business with the country, and Atradius has put this checklist together to help them make their sales to Mexican buyers successful.

Since coming to office in December 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto has already made strides to combat crime, boost the economy and improve the world’s perception of Mexico as a thriving market.

He has also promised to address the considerable disparity in personal wealth, but Mexico already has a growing middle class and a burgeoning consumer market. With ready access to consumer credit and an upward trend in employment, household consumption will continue to grow.

Add to this the Government’s investment in improving the country’s infrastructure and the result is an exciting prospect for foreign companies hoping to make their mark.

Karel Van Laack, Atradius Country Manager in Mexico, says in Mexico, the lack of availability of bank finance to most companies, especially small and medium sized operations, can prove a stumbling block to mutually beneficial trade: “This simply highlights the real importance of supplier credit in a country that is eager to expand its international trade.”

Mexico is an extremely open economy and has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 44 countries. The prime motive may have been to reduce its heavy dependence on trade with the US, but the upshot is that these FTAs allow many types of product from the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Mexico’s Latin American neighbours and many more, to enter the country tariff free.

President Enrique Peña Nieto is due to announce major investment in a wide range of infrastructure projects as part of a six year plan to boost the economy. It is likely to cover energy technology and generation, telecommunications, road, rail, ports and aviation. Combined with the new president’s intention to break the monopolistic hold over sectors such as telecommunications, this offers real opportunities to foreign suppliers and investors. The anticipated extensive improvements in infrastructure will of course also help with the distribution of goods around this vast country.