The sectors in which Mexican investment was concentrated were manufacturing, with 89%, and commercial, with 11%.
In 2023, direct investment from Mexico in Ecuador was US$6.8 million, compared to US$37.3 million in 2022, which represented a drop of 82%, according to the report from the Chamber of Industries and Production (CIP) prepared with information from the Central Bank of Ecuador.
For the executive president of the CIP, María Paz Jervis, the relationship with Mexico should not only focus on exports, but on how much some companies are investing in Ecuador.
According to a report prepared by the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), last year exports were US$ 202 million, while imports reached US$ 701 million, leaving an unfavorable balance of US$ 499 million in non-trade. oil tanker between the two countries.
The CIP report indicates that in 2023 the sectors in which investment from Mexico was concentrated were manufacturing, with 89%, and commercial, with 11%. In that sense, in the corporate investment part of Mexico in Ecuador it mentions the companies that, together with others, total US$ 6.98 million:
Mexichem Ecuador SA (manufacturing industries). Investment: US$ 5.13 million.
Ecuadorian Food Industries Inalecsa SAS (manufacturing industries). Investment: US$ 0.90 million.
Proauto SA Corporation (wholesale and retail trade). Investment: US$ 0.76 million.
Fidegar SAS (wholesale and retail trade). Investment: US$ 0.10 million.
Gsbsolutions Ecuador SA (professional activities). Investment: US$ 0.05 million.
Aeroenlaces Nacionales Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable (transport and storage). Investment: US$ 0.02 million.
Acuicultec SA (wholesale and retail trade). Investment: US$ 0.01 million.
Others. Investment: US$ 0.02 million.
In addition, companies from that country with Mexican capital in Ecuador are detailed: Arca Continental, Bimbo, Sigma Alimentos, Mabe, Claro, Mexichem, Femsa, Meramexair, Aeroméxico, etc.
In the analysis, which contains data since 2016, it is indicated that 2018 was the year in which the most direct investment was recorded, with US$61.7 million. In that year, Mexico represented 8% of the rest of America, although excluding the United States and the Andean Community. While in 2023 it was 2%.
Another year in which the investment was also high, but lower when compared to 2018, was in 2021, with US$ 36.6 million. However, the year in which the numbers turned red was 2020, as -1.8% was recorded; That is, there was greater disinvestment or withdrawal of capital than new investments.
Ecuador and Mexico are going through a political-diplomatic crisis after the police raid on that country's embassy in Quito on April 5 to capture former vice president Jorge Glas. Although the Government of Ecuador indicated that it would not affect the commercial part, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena indicated that commercial relations with Ecuador were suspended on April 11.
Before the Mexican Foreign Minister's announcement was made known, the executive president of the CIP, María Paz Jervis, during the second Convention 2024: Building a Country Vision, organized by the Ecuadorian Business Committee, commented that they remain faithful to the conviction that diplomatic problems are resolved in that way; and, in terms of the commercial relationship, the generation of jobs, the exchange... “that doesn't stop.”
He added that as a productive sector they support “no to impunity. "It is unprecedented to allow criminal gangs, organized in politics, in transnational networks, to always seek to hide behind an embassy in this case to avoid justice."
