Bulletin 411 - Friday, March 6, 2009

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua,- One of the 19 plants Delphi is going to sell to General Motors (GM) is located in Ciudad Juarez, in Rio Bravo Industrial Park, located by Zaragoza International Bridge. It is Río Bravo Electricos, S.A. de C.V. XXII, now Delphi 68, which manufactures steering systems for trucks and automobiles and has 567 employees. Xochitl Diaz, Delphi's Corporate Affairs Manager, said that this plant in Ciudad Juarez, as well as 2 plants located in Queretaro and one in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, will now depend directly on GM. She said that these four plants in the automotive steering systems field currently have a working force of one thousand 500 employees. GM and Delphi have made the commitment to work jointly with Steering Business customers, other than GM, to provide continuous supply of high quality products and services after the plants are sold.

Source: El Diario

Mexico City,- Next March 10th the Danish manufacturer of construction toys, Lego, will start production in Monterrey, where only this year they will manufacture around 10 million of their famous plastic blocks to supply the American Continent. This US$150 million investment will generate one thousand direct jobs and around 300 indirect jobs and they will spend around US$25 million in local purchases, Pablo Salazar, Director for Lego Monterrey Plant, assured. This site was chosen because the Company required a production center in this continent to supply the United States and Canada, which are the main markets for Lego. "We looked for a place that would be the most adequate to promptly answer to market needs, in a stable environment, where we could count on qualified labor and infrastructure". He said.

Source: El Norte

Mexico, Distrito Federal,- The German giant Siemens will build three electric power projects in Mexico, for US$25 million (around MEP$384 million) for the steel company Aceros Corsa (which has entered an alliance with the Brazilian Company Gerdau), Grupo Modelo and Grupo Kuo. The largest of these three projects is the one Siemens will develop in the State of Hidalgo to serve power needs by Aceros Corsa, which will invest US$430 million in the construction of a plant with an annual capacity of one million tons of steel and 700,000 tons of laminated products in Sahagun Industrial Park. For Grupo Modelo, Siemens will build three conventional electric power substations for the Group's breweries in Coahuila and Oaxaca; for this project they will charge around US$9 million. Finally, through a US$6.2 million agreement, Siemens will provide a 20 MW condensation-type vapor turbo-generator for HUMO), a company subsidiary of KUO (formerly Gurpo Desc).

Source: Semanario

Saltillo, Coah,- A little over two years after construction works started, President Felipe Calderon will inaugurate today the new Daimler Trucks plant in Derramadero, which will generate one thousand 600 direct jobs and one thousand 100 indirect jobs in its suppliers plants. The new investment was announced in December 2006 and in January 2007 started the construction of this plant, where US$300 million were invested. Last year, suppliers started establishing nearby, such as Fuel Systems and Meridian Automotive- Saltillo Plant. Karla Flores, from Daimler Mexico's Social Communications, said that investment amounted to US$300 million to create one thousand 600 direct jobs and an installed capacity for 30 thousand Cascade Class 8 trucks, which will be mainly sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico. As far as suppliers is concerned, she said that they are creating around one thousand 100 jobs.

Source: El Zocalo

Monterrey, Mexico,- Ternium, the steel company controlling former Hylsamex and Imsa Acero companies, will invest US$250 million in fixed assets during 2009, 42.5% of the amount they invested last year, the Company informed. Spokespersons from Ternium in Monterrey informed that the project for the new steel mill in Pesqueria, where they will invest US$4.2 billion is still in its early stages, namely engineering design, and it is advancing as planned. "Once this first design stage is completed, development stage will adapt to market situation at the time", the source said. "US$250 million is what we consider probable, reasonable for this year, taking into consideration forecasts for Ternium and current cash position". The Company, chaired by Paolo Rocca, considers average use of capacity during the first half of 2009 will be around 65%.

Source: Milenio

Mexico City,- In spite of the economic deceleration, Mexico is still one of the most important markets for the aeronautics industry, and therefore Italian companies in the field are considering establishing in Mexico "in the short term". Andrea Ferrari, Director of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade, said that Italian companies see Mexico as a productive platform and a bridge for the global market, and they are therefore analyzing Mexico's economic and industrial capacities. Mauricio Madai, Chairman of the Italian Association of Aerospace and Defense Industries (AIAD), said that the number of Italian companies interested in establishing in Mexico is not known yet, but four are assessing the possibilities of establishing in Mexico. These companies are: Avio SpA, TCS Grupo, Avioman Srl and Alenai Aeronáutica SpA. Mauricio Madai also said that just as these big companies are assessing coming to Mexico, other smaller, less specialized companies in other sectors are interested in establishing or making alliances here.

Source: Debate