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Constellation Brands
sees no risk in Andrés Manuel López Obrador winning Mexico’s presidency , nor in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ; the company will continue to invest in Mexico, with plans to allocate 850 million dollars for plant expansion in 2018 .
In an interview with Notimex , Daniel Baima, the general director of the production company of the Modelo and Corona brands in the United States , said that they will continue betting on the country, working with the outgoing administration, and that they have already had rapprochements with the new government, giving their vote of confidence.
"We have around 850 million dollars for this fiscal year, we have been spending, according to plan, on important capital investments for three locations: Mexicali, Ciudad Obregón, and Piedras Negras ," he assured.
He said that they had invested more than 4,500 million dollars in recent years and would continue to do so in order to maintain their current portfolio growth. He added that the company felt personally commited to Mexico’s development.
Likewise, he explained that the Mexicali plant was on schedule with a 44% progress , and that it would start operating within three or four years, increasing production capacity to 43.5 million hectoliters .
In 2017 alone, the production of Constellation Brands represented 22 percent of the beer produced in Mexico and 84 percent of the beer exported to the United States from our country, which makes it the leading company in this field.
"We did it with the last administration, we will do it with the following one, because we will always bet on investment, growth, and hard work," assured the general director of the brewery.
In fact, he pointed out that, during the first six months of the year, its brands have done well in the market, with advances according to its 9% plan , despite the low growth of the sector in the United States.
Regarding the renegotiation of NAFTA, Daniel Baima said he sees both countries with the intention of closing a good agreement, which motivates them to continue investing. He expects it to close at the end of the year.
However, the director said that the subject of aluminium tariffs has taken a toll on their production. Fortunately, their product depends more on glass containers, since 80% of their beer is sold in glass bottles.
"Yes, it hits us. We are currently working with our can suppliers, there is a strategy for that, but this year we have already felt losses of a couple of million dollars," he explained.
Constellation Brands has the rights to exclusively produce and market Grupo Modelo's brands in the US market
, including Corona Extra and Modelo Especial , the preferred and best-selling imported beers in that country.
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