Mexico outperforms China in manufacturing costs

During the proceedings of the 38th IMEF 2026 International Finance Forum, experts noted that the combination of a more competitive Mexican manufacturing sector, export growth, and the resilience of domestic consumption points to a second half of the year marked by greater economic momentum.

One of the main topics of the meeting was the analysis of Mexico’s industrial competitiveness within the global manufacturing sector and its position relative to China. Alejandro Padilla, executive director of quantitative analysis at Grupo Financiero Banorte, stated that Mexican unit labor costs are already lower than those in the Chinese manufacturing sector.

The strength of the domestic market, consumption growth, and the strategic adoption of artificial intelligence were also identified as key pillars for the country’s economic performance.

Padilla explained that Banorte’s transactional Big Data—which analyzes the behavior of more than 6 million account holders and a significant portion of the national card market—shows that no state has recorded a decline in spending compared to the previous year.

The panel’s conclusions agreed that the combination of competitive manufacturing, resilient consumption, and an orderly digital transformation will allow Mexico to maintain a strategic position in the face of complex global economic scenarios during the second half of the year.