Bulletin 415 - Friday, April 3, 2009

Mexico City,- Honda de Mexico informed a few minutes ago they will stop producing during 13 days in their facilities at El Salto, Jalisco. These thirteen days will be distributed from May to September when the Company will not assemble two models: CRV and MUV (four-wheeler exported to the United States). "This is due to high inventories in the US market due to economic uncertainty and a severe drop in new cars sales", the Japanese Company explained in a press release. The Company added that Honda de Mexico's associates will be able to choose between taking vacations paid by the Company or receiving 50% of their wages, while 100% benefits will be paid.

Source: Vanguardia

Mexico, Tlalnepantla,- Fiat Mexico inaugurated in Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico, its 18th dealership, considered the largest in Mexico and among the biggest in Latin America. Jose Dagdug, General Director for this new dealership, commented: "Investment in this project, close to US$5 million, shows our complete confidence in the brand, which has a great future in Mexico, with is attractive range of models". It is to be mentioned that Fiat Tlalnepantla is the only ecological dealership in Mexico; it has the capacity to channel rain water on site, generating a 50% recovery of water bodies. It has more than 3 thousand 600 square meters (38,750 square feet) constructed and its workshop has space to serve up to 40 units daily.

Source: Noti-Ina

Mexico City,- Mexican Maquilador Sector in Information Technologies and Electronics is bringing new investments, due to the Mexican Peso/US Dollar rate of exchange and the increase in logistics costs in Asia. In Ciudad Juarez, for example, the new plant of the Chinese Company Foxconn will start operating soon, employing around 5 thousand people, according to Alfredo Gomez, Director of the North Region of the Mexican Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technologies Industry (Camara Nacional de la Industria Electronica, de Telecomunicaciones y Tecnologias de la Informacion [Canieti]). The plant, located in the corridor that joins Santa Teresa, New Mexico, with Chihuahua's border is considered one of the largest in Mexico, with a surface of one million 200 thousand square feet. Also, ABB, a European Company specialized in automation systems, inaugurated a manufacturing and engineering campus last March in San Luis Potosi, where they invested around US$40 million. Ricardo Gomez, Chairman of Canieti West Region, says that in Jalisco practically each week proposals arrive from companies interested in opening a plant there. He estimates that this year total investment by this sector in Jalisco will be around US$300 million, an amount higher than the US$278 million in 2008.

Source: El Norte

Mexico City,- World leader in solutions on chain of supply, storage and transportation management, Ryder is proud to announce the opening of its new Carrizal Distribution Center. Carrrizal Distribution Center was built to meet the growing demand from Ryder's customers. Carrizal includes two large warehouses 40,000 square meters (430,554 square feet) each and 12 meters (40 feet) free storage height, as well as capacity to park more than 60 trailers and facilities for high technology trucks maintenance. In this campus Ryder will offer services to customers in several industries, such as automotive, pharmaceutical, consumer products and high technology, among others. These new facilities replace former Ryder's San Martin Oblispo Distribution Center. Carrizal Distribution Center means a substantial investment by Ryder in the State of Mexico in order to strengthen the Company's multi-client operations capacity in the geographical area with the highest GDP in Mexico, which gathers the most important companies in Mexico.

Source: www.jeffreygroup.com

Mexico City,- ArcelorMittal, the largest steel producer in the world, informed they had to lay off 10% of its workers in Mexico, around 400 employees, due to the drop in demand for their products, according to Bloomberg P.S. Venkataramanan, CEO in the Mexican Subsidiary. ArcelorMittal currently operates steel mills in the State of Michoacan, where they have around 4,000 represented workers, as informed last November by Carlos Pavon, representative of the Union of Workers in Mining, Metallurgy and Similar Industries in the Mexican Republic (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana [SNTMMSRM]). It was precisely last November when ArcelorMIttal announced a voluntary retirement program that would affect around 9,000 people, almost 3% of the labor force all over the world, while for the steel group it could mean a step forward in their efforts to cut down expenses by US$1 billion.

Source: Semanario

Cuernavaca, Morelos,- If within six months the plant that Nissan Mexicana has in Jiutepec does not regularize its economic and production situation, it could be moved to Aguascalientes, the Chairman of Industrial Relations Executives Association in the State of Morelos (ERIEM), Max Pineda Espinosa, said and further pointed-out that as a consequence of the technical stoppages due to the current crisis, a large number of micro, medium and large companies have also been forced to resort to technical stoppages, "especially those which sell auto parts". He also said that in Morelos auto parts companies have been affected by Nissan's technical stoppages, such as Placosa which manufactures sealing fluids; Güterman, which manufactures safety belts and some others such as Farmatap y Aluplast. Last, Mr. Pineda commented in the interview that if the State Government does not listen to requirements by Nissan Cuernavaca, "we are running the risk to see it leave within no more than six months to Aguascalientes, or any other state that offers benefits for proper development".

Source: El Sol de Cuernavaca