Publicly Accessible Internet Databases

individual entries independently. For your convenience, you may want to access these and other information sources directly through the hyperlinks on our website at http://www.perspectivas-mexico.ch (”Market Research Links”). Should links or paths be outdated, it may be a good idea to use a search engine such as Google (http://www.google.ch) and type in the name of the service you are looking for (for instance ”SICVI”), using ordinary internet search techniques. It is highly probable that this approach will elicit the information your require.

• Banco de México (http://www.banxico.org.mx;
11.4)

The Mexican Central Bank (Banco de México) offers abundant up-to-date information on the economic situation of the country. The subsection Cuadernos de Información Económica contains, among many other items, sectoral data on production, prices and trade that are updated monthly. Much information is available both in Spanish and English.

• Bancomext (http://www.bancomext.gob.mx or

http://www.bancomext.com;
11.12.1)

Bancomext is the state-owned foreign trade bank of Mexico. Although the information offered is primarily designed for Mexican exporters, foreigners will find valuable information in the form of an investment guide for foreign investors, providing a detailled overview of industrial costs in Mexico (with a break down according to regions)

Table 4.1: Overview of data sources

Type of Information Data Sources

Sectoral Information Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI),

Banco de México, Secretaría de Economía, Sistema de Información Empresarial (SIEM), Contacto PyME, Bancomext, Commercial Banks, Trade Information Agencies

Trade Data Secretaría de Economía, Bancomext, Instituto Nacional de

Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)

Tariff Rates Secretaría de Economía

Technical Norms Dirección General de Normas, Sistema de Información Empresarial

(SIEM), Secretaría de Economía

Business Directories Sistema de Información Empresarial (SIEM), Bancomext, Contacto

and some sectoral analyses of the Mexican market. The site gives access to directories of potential trade partners in Mexico, too.

• Business Chambers and Associations (
11.6)

Business chambers (Cámaras Empresariales) often have an industry-specific orientation. If they have websites, they may contain lists of members with contact details. See Box 4.1 on how to identify these organisations.

Box 4.1: Identifying Industry-Specific Chambers and Business Associations

Industry specific associations and chambers may be identified through the Sistema de Información Empresarial Mexicano (SIEM; http://www.siem.gob.mx). When on their website, choose ”Biblioteca” and then ”Cámaras Empresariales”. The SIEM also provides information on the chamber affiliations of individual firms.

Another option to identify industry-specific chambers and associations is to check the membership lists of umbrella organisations such as the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Mexico (Confederación de Cámaras Industriales de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos; CONCAMIN; http://www.concamin.org.mx) or the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Confederación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo; CONCANACO-SERVYTUR; http://www.concanacored.com) In the case of CONCAMIN and CONCANACO, membership lists are published on the internet. Contact details of these and other umbrella organisations are available in Subsection 11.6.1. Some industry-specific associations and chambers are listed in Subsection 11.6.2.

• Commercial Banks (
11.12)

Most larger commercial banks have dedicated a section of their websites to economic research. Frequently, available documents also contain sectoral market surveys and studies. For a systematic approach, it is recommended to check the websites of the following institutions for relevant contents:

Scotiabank-Inverlat (http://www.inverlat.com.mx or http:// www.scotiabankinverlat.com)

• Contacto PyME (http://www.contactopyme.gob.mx)

Contacto PyME is a website designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises by the Ministry of the Economy (Secretaría de Economía). It contains a wealth of information that cannot be described here in detail. Worth mentioning is the section ”Mercado” that hosts information on the value chain in various sectors; with details on suppliers and buyers, prices and sectoral trade fairs. Some market studies are as well available for download.

• Dirección General de Normas

(http://www.economia-normas.gob.mx;
11.4)

The General Directorate of Norms publishes technical standards and regulations as well as lists of products to which they apply. Exporters and investors will find information on technical and quality requirements on the Mexican market. The main feature of the site is the Catálogo de Normas Oficiales Mexicanas (NOM; Catalogue of Official Mexican Norms), For each tariff position or product description, applying Mexican technical norms can be identified and subsequently downloaded in full text. See Section 6.3 on Technical Norms for details.

• Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI;

http://www.inegi.gob.mx;
11.4)

The most important publicly accessible source is the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI), the Mexican National Statistical Office. It provides a variety of statistical information in different series. For market research purposes, the Censos Económicos and the Banco de Información Económica are most important.

Censos Económicos: The Censos Económicos contain very detailed structural

information on sectors and subsectors of the Mexican economy. Published in late 2000, the last census was taken in 1999 and is based on data from 1998. It basically consists of two series. The first series ”Tabulados Basicos” offers general sectoral information such as the number of establishments, employees, salaries, assets, gross capital formation, gross total production or inputs. The tables offer further refinements and allow an analysis of the data by state. The second series ”Productos y Materias Primas” yields additional information such as quantity and value of production and

sales (both domestic and abroad), prices and the consumption of inputs. The ”Censos Económicos” are an excellent source to find specific information on customer industries, including their structural pattern and their regional distribution.

While it is a good source to evaluate the size of a market or the number and size of potential customers and their location within the nation, the database does not contain any addresses, and the information is rather static. However, both problems may be resolved: Addresses are retrievable by means of business directories (see Table 4.1 for references), and more current data is available in the Banco de Información Económica (see next paragraph).

Banco de Información Económica (BIE): The BIE includes 54’000 data series.

Among many others, figures on the production of sectors and subsectors are available. In contrast to the ”Censos Económicos” the BIE also contains very recent figures. The section ”Sector Externo” of the BIE gives access to data on imports and exports by products and/or sectors. Data on foreign direct investment is also available, however only on very aggregate levels. Data may be exported into Excel or ASCII files, including graphs where desired.

• National Trade Information Agency Websites (see Section 4.4.2;

11.8)

While some trade agencies do not publish their market studies for free download on the internet, others may do so. At the time we were writing this book, market studies were available for download from the websites of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (http://www.infoexport.gc.ca), the U.S. Commercial Service (http://www.export.gov) and the French Direction des Relations Economiques Extérieures (http://www.dree.org/mexique).

• Secretaría de Economía (http://www.economia.gob.mx;
11.4)

The Secretaría de Economía is the Mexican Economic Ministry. It is very active in the distribution of useful data for exporters and investors. This holds particularly for the site of the Subsecretariat of International Commercial Negotiations (Subsecretaría de Negociaciones Comerciales Internacionales; SNCI). These are the main channels of information on their website:

month, year and country of origin which is very useful for an ”indirect” identification of competitors and their import market shares. For most queries, trade figures are available as far back as 1990. Further on, SICVI allows you to retrieve up-to-date information on import tariff rates and non-tariff import regulations by product and country of origin. This function of the database is a good starting point for information on the particular requirements of importing your products to Mexico. While we used SICVI extensively in the first half of 2002, we found that the service had some technical problems, particularly during (European) mornings. It worked generally well during (European) afternoon or evening hours.

Sistema de Inteligencia Comercial (SIC): The SIC was designed to attract export-

oriented foreign direct investment (FDI) to Mexico. Investors from foreign countries may check whether their products may be shipped at better market access conditions to third country markets when produced in Mexico as opposed to produced in the investor’s country of origin.

Tratados/Negociaciones: The pages on ”Tratados” and ”Negociaciones” host

extensive information on Free Trade Agreements, also including the original texts and tariff elimination schedules.

Information on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): The pages on ”Inversión”

include recent reports with statistical information on FDI by sector or country of origin. Moreover, it offers access to basic information on the regulation of foreign investors.

• Sistema de Información Empresarial (SIEM; http://www.siem.gob.mx)

The SIEM which belongs to the website of the Secretaría de Economía is a highly interesting information tool. There is a legal obligation for firms to register with the SIEM, which is publicly accessible via the internet at no cost. Among many other features, it hosts a comprehensive business directory with much information on sectors and individual businesses. The search function allows searches of buyers and suppliers by product, federal state, size of business, chamber affiliation or user-specific criteria. Statistics on the number of businesses are also available, and each result is clickable thereby bringing users directly to the listings of individual firms which include addresses and some cursory information about the firms, including their size or required inputs. The directory may also be searched using graphic representations of the value chain (Cadena productiva) in different sectors as a starting point. Moreover, a list of all Mexican chambers of commerce and industry (Cámaras empresariales) is available.