MCALLEN, Texas – Humberto Martinez Cantu’s term as president of Index Reynosa will soon be up.
Before this happened the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service wanted to get an interview with him about the state of the maquiladora industry in Reynosa.
We caught up with him at a recent Index Reynosa general managers meeting, held at the McAllen Convention Center.
Index is the leading trade association of the maquiladora industry in Mexico. As well as president of its Reynosa chapter, Martinez is secretary of the national association.
“We are growing. At this point we have 152 companies in Reynosa. We have more than 145,000 people working in the industry. We are expecting to grow this year,” Martinez said, in a video interview.
One of the reasons for the growth, Martinez said, is the re-shoring movement, with manufacturing companies based in the Far East looking to be closer to the U.S. market. The disruptions to the supply chain during the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the interest in re-shoring.
“We are trying to bring industry from China closer to the biggest market we have, which is the United States,” Martinez said.
The Index leader noted there are a lot of logistical problems at sea ports in California.
“There are too many containers waiting with components. We have too many, it is exceeding capacity,” Martinez said.
“(We are) bringing the Chinese people to this country in order to minimize the transportation costs and the lead times. There are very long lead times, as you can imagine.”
In the video, Martinez also spoke about the national situation for the maquiladora industry in Mexico.
Video
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