The representative of self-service stores pointed out the importance of driving companies incorporating SMEs into their production chains. In this sense, he recalled the last business event organized by ANTAD in May in Guadalajara, Jalisco, with more than 1,000 exhibiting companies, of which 500 were micro and small, 350 medium and 150 large.
“More than 30,000 business meetings were held, where 11,300 million pesos were billed in three days; There were more than 2,500 buyers from the ANTAD chains, apart from 250 buyers from the United States”, he highlighted.
A challenge related to including SMEs in production chains has to do with formality and financing, the latter being an important component of price formation. Hence, it is important to have mechanisms that provide access to credit.
Something that can help the formalization of companies is the issue of deregulation. “At the state level there are things that can be homologated, but you find the obstacles at the local level. In Mexico, regulation accounts for 8% of GDP,” lamented Vicente Yáñez.
In this regard, Jesús Cantú said that the SE recently launched the electronic business file and it has to do with the fact that “any document that is already in the possession of any public entity does not have to be requested again.”
“We want to make this electronic business file even useful for relationships between individuals,” he added. The SE official also pointed out that they are working with the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer) to standardize procedures in all municipalities.
Productivity
From 1991 to date, productivity in the country only grew 0.1% per year, far from the 0.8% registered in Latin America, lamented the official from the Ministry of Economy.
Logistics costs are another factor that has to be worked on, since in Mexico they represent a third of the cost of a product. This line not only includes the transportation part, but also customs procedures.
“Today a ton from Iowa to Mexico City is cheaper than from Sinaloa to Mexico City,” Cantú exemplified.
You also have to think about improving the income of workers.
The undersecretary added that Mexico must also work in three areas in order to increase productivity: research and development, human capital -employee training and review of study plans-, and review of processes.
“The GDP in the last quarter grew 1.8%, in investment it grew 5.2%, that is, it has a brutal multiplier effect. For so much investment, GDP grows a lot and productivity grows,” said Sofía Ramírez while pointing out that “the great lack in the Mexican labor market would be: the formalization of companies in economic activity, investment and the labor market ”, he pointed out..
He also pointed out that another way to increase productivity in the country has to do with “add all the women who are at home taking care of children, how? With a care system,” he added.
T-MEC effect
Mexico has a great opportunity ahead, since it is not only part of the USMCA, but also because Chinese labor has become more expensive, Milo Caraza said.
With the rules of origin, Mexico becomes attractive for foreign companies to come to the country to seek to reach the US market, taking advantage of the trade agreement.
In that sense, he regretted that China has foreign direct investment throughout the world; least in Mexico. It is not enough to be a neighbor of the United States and the T-MEC, comparative advantages, and competitive advantages, differentiators against other countries.
“Mexico has been a specialist in wasting comparative advantages; we waste oil, the demographic bonus. Right now, or we take advantage of the T-MEC with all the advantages it gives us, but we have to make it competitive, “she said.
