An overview of industrial investment in Latin America from 2016 to 2023
Elisabeth
May 21, 2024
Using data from the Trendeo databaseglobal database, we can profile different regions in terms of investment and job creation since 2016 ⤵️
Latin America, by Rayan Benamane
Latin America, which accounts for 4% of global investment in our base from 2016 to 2023, has been on a generally upward slope since the COVID-19 crisis. This progress was confirmed last year.
While the region saw a decline in investment in logistics activities, there was an increase in almost all other sectors. Energy (electricity and gas) was by far the sector with the highest level of investment (over USD 22.2 billion), including a USD 10 billion green hydrogen plant project by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in Mexico.
The year 2023 was also marked by investments in chemicals (5.5 billion USD, including Petrobras, YPFB Corporacion, HIF Global), metallurgy (5.4 billion, Ternium, Tibet Summit Resources Co Ltd) and automotive (5.3 billion, CHERY, ZF Group, Renault Group...).
Investments in other sectors such as mining, paper/cardboard, food processing and electronics are also set to rise sharply in 2023.
Overall, the energy and mining sectors have accounted for more than 55% of investments in the region over the past 8 years.
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile together accounted for 72% of investments over the period, particularly in manufacturing (84%), energy (82%) and data centers (97%).
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Venezuela and Peru , meanwhile, receive a significant share of regional investment in the mining sector (45%), while Colombia leads the way in agricultural investment (26% of investment in the region since 2016).
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European Union countries (with Spain, Italy and Denmark as the main investors) account for 35% of industrial FDI received by the region since 2016, making it the leading foreign investor in Latin America.
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The United States, China, Australia and Japan accounted for most of the remaining foreign investment in the region over the period.
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More details and continuous updates in our Trendeo Monde (Industries & Stratégies) database.