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General Situation in Mexico

Weekly Review # 81 I November 17, 2021

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY INDEX estimates semiconductor shortage to continue through June 2022 The National Council of the Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (INDEX) estimates that the semiconductor shortage will continue in Mexico until May or June 2022.

example that it is currently very difficult to buy a new Play Station video console. If possible, it is very expensive. This has influenced the rise in inflation globally, with the automotive industry being one of the hardest hit.

“This is an issue that is going to continue and will improve perhaps until May or June of next year,” commented Luis Manuel Hernández, president of Index, at a press conference in Chihuahua on Thursday.

For his part, Hernandez also indicated that since the largest semiconductor production in the world takes place in Asia, normalization will occur first in that continent and then in the rest of the world. Thus, the inflection point in the improvement, which he outlined for May or June 2022 in the case of Mexico, “does not mean that the problem will be solved by that date.”

The global shortage of semiconductors has led to a reduction in the production of automotive vehicles in Mexico, which has slowed down Mexican exports of products. At the same conference, Román Rivas, president of the Association of Maquiladora Exporters of Chihuahua (affiliated to INDEX), said that some 5 million new automotive vehicles will no longer be produced in 2021, compared to 2020, due to the shortage of semiconductors, according to projections by IHS Markit. Rivas explained that the global electronics sector has been strongly impacted by the shortage of chips and gave an

After the reopening, the world demand for vehicles recovered rapidly, so that a few months after the beginning of the pandemic, the global automotive industry reached a production level similar to that observed before the health emergency, according to data from the Bank of Mexico. However, the world’s installed capacity for semiconductor production has not been able to meet the sectors’ high demand simultaneously.

good news Leaders of U.S., Mexico and Canada to hold first summit in five years

MEXICO CITY, Nov 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold their first in-person meeting in Washington on Nov. 18, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. The meeting, which will be the first summit held by the three countries in five years, will address issues including the COVID-19 pandemic and boosting the competitiveness of supply chains in North America, foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said. Mexico will also be focusing on economic development in southern Mexico and Central America, Ebrard told a regular government news conference alongside Lopez Obrador. Mexico’s announcement confirmed a report by Reuters on Tuesday that the meeting was planned for Nov. 18. It also came a day after the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said that he hoped concerns could be resolved which the United States and private companies have expressed over a Mexican legislative initiative to reform the electricity market. The bill still in Congress championed by Lopez Obrador seeks to give precedence to Mexico’s state-owned energy companies over private firms, and the leftist president was asked at the news conference if he would address the matter in Washington.

Aside from taking part in the leaders’ three-way meeting, Lopez Obrador would also hold bilateral talks with Biden and Trudeau in Washington, Ebrard said. Mexico was scheduled to host the following summit of the North American leaders in 2023, he added.

Lopez Obrador said it was not on the agenda, but that if it did come up, he would explain to Biden that Mexico was taking steps to ensure consumers were not subjected to price hikes.

The leaders started holding what is informally known as the Three Amigos summit in 2005 and met most years until 2016. The practice ended when U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

The president argues that past Mexican governments rigged the electricity market in favor of private capital at the expense of consumers and the Mexican state.

The countries are bound together by the United StatesMexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement that governs some $1.5 trillion in North American trade annually.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Key points of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Morning Press Conference November 10-16, 2021

ELECTRICAL REFORM To the express question, if the issue of the electricity reform will be addressed during the meeting with President Biden, President Lopez Obrador responded that it is not contemplated in the agenda and that President Biden is respectful of the sovereignty of Mexico. He explained that if necessary, he will explain what the reform consists of. REOPENING THE BORDER The Chancellor pointed out that the reopening as of Monday has been a success and has led to a significant increase in flow with respect to activities considered non-essential.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxEgOKuI-n-WOJaNcisHvSg

VISIT TO WASHINGTON The President stressed that there will be two types of meetings, one of a bilateral nature, separately with President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau. Later, there will be a meeting between the three parts to evaluate three themes: Economic Integration, Migration, and Health - referring to the COVID-19. On behalf of Mexico, the President will be accompanied by the Secretary of Foreign Relations, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Economy, the Director of Migration, and the Undersecretary of Health (Hugo López-Gatell). He announced that he is leaving on Wednesday the 17th and will return on Friday, November 19.

MEASURES TAKEN BY STATES IN MEXICO

Baja California The State of Baja California remains considered as high-risk or orange light. Official reports confirmed 2,657 active cases, with hospital occupancy at 24.99%. The vaccination plan continues this week with the application of the first and second dose of Astra Zeneca and Pfizer to the adult population and the first dose of Pfizer to adolescents aged 12 to 17 years with risk factors. The influenza vaccination plan for all ages started last week in different municipalities.

Sonora The State of Sonora is considered a low-risk or green light. 34 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours. The government reminds citizens of the protocols for a safe work environment, such as healthy distance, disinfecting surfaces, and antibacterial gel. Also, the Seasonal Flu Vaccine started this week in different municipalities.

MEASURES TAKEN BY STATES IN MEXICO

COAHUILA Coahuila is the first state in Mexico to implement digital case tracking. The application is very easy to use and began to be used on the afternoon of Thursday, November 11, on iPhone or Android mobile devices in the 38 municipalities of the state. TAMAULIPAS The governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, participated in the launch for the cross-border vaccination of minors between 5 and 17 years of age in Reynosa. The goal is to immunize 40,000 minors, children of workers in the maquiladora sector. NUEVO LEON The government of Nuevo Leon began the application of the vaccine against COVID-19 for children between five and 11 years old, although it did not specify that it would be applied to all or only those with comorbidities.

MEASURES TAKEN BY STATES IN MEXICO

Queretaro The State Health Secretary, Martina Perez Rendon, projected that the fourth wave of Covid-19 in the state of Queretaro will have a similar or lesser impact than the third wave. In this sense, she hoped that the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in the state will be, in the worst-case scenario, similar to the third wave where up to 350 serious patients were hospitalized. She also assured that the State Health Secretariat has sufficient capacity, both in terms of beds and health personnel, to provide the proper attention in similar hospitalization figures.

Jalisco Although Jalisco remains in the green light in the monitoring of the Covid-19 pandemic, at the end of the 45th epidemiological week -November 7 to 13-, the state is close to 400 thousand cases detected so far by adding 1,125 new cases and 17,239 deaths, 110 more than those reported the previous week, placing the state in third place nationally by a number of deaths. This is even though the 18 to 29 year-old age group reached 82 percent coverage with at least one dose of vaccine, followed by the 30 to 39 yearold population, which reached 78 percent coverage with at least one dose, and the 60 and over age group, which is at 71 percent, groups that exceed the goal established by the federal government of achieving 70 percent immunization by the end of October. The SSJ informed that there is enough biological vaccine available after receiving more than 187 thousand vaccines last Friday, which will also include second doses, after more than 30 thousand first doses were applied last week to people over 18 years of age who, for some reason had not been vaccinated, about 8 thousand of them in municipalities outside the metropolitan area of Guadalajara (AMG).

MEASURES TAKEN BY STATES IN MEXICO

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes is now green in the epidemic risk traffic light after its update, but also with another increase in positive, active, and suspected cases and demand for beds due to the health complications of infected persons. Thus, the week begins with an accumulated 36,403 cases, after 59 positive cases were confirmed the day before, while the total number of active or under control cases climbed to 399, after several days in which this figure showed significant decreases. According to the Federal Health Ministry report, Aguascalientes, as well as 30 other states in the country, opened the week with green color in the epidemic traffic light. However, health authorities and doctors have made it clear that this does not mean in any way that the risk level has dropped since the disease continues to spread, as confirmed by the daily increase in the number of infected people.

Guanajuato In the state of Guanajuato, there are 193,532 confirmed cases of covid-19, 644 are under investigation, while 258,951 cases have already been ruled out. In addition, 177,558 cases of the disease have already been recovered. There have been 13,244 deaths in the state. As of next week, the state’s economic reactivation traffic light will turn green for the first time, as announced by State Governor Diego Sinhue, who indicated that with this change, the capacity will increase from 70% to 100%.

MEASURES TAKEN BY STATES IN MEXICO

State of Mexico Despite a decrease in the incidence of infections in recent weeks, the State of Mexico has 85,363 suspected cases of Covid-19, of which 38.98% are concentrated in the municipalities of Ecatepec, Nezahualcoyotl, Naucalpan, Toluca, and Tlalnepantla. Of the above, Nezahualcoyotl has the highest number of suspected cases, with 10,479; followed by Ecatepec with 7,878; Naucalpan with 6,123; Tlalnepantla with 4,649 and Toluca with 4,145. CDMX The federal government announced today that people from 12-17 years old will be vaccinated. Undersecretary Lopez Gatell explained that from 10 to 14 years of age, mortality is very low. From 15 years of age onwards, mortality increases as the years of life increase, making them more susceptible. Although he said, Covid-19 is “nowhere near” the leading cause of death in this young population. And the lethality of this virus in this age group is very low compared to the adult population. In addition, he said that next year people turning 18 years of age throughout 2022 will also be vaccinated. On the other hand, he acknowledged that few parents have been willing to vaccinate their young children with comorbidities.

Economic Growth in Mexico Volaris announces purchase of 39 A321neo aircraft from Airbus

Mexican low-cost airline Volaris announced Monday the signing of an agreement with European manufacturer Airbus to purchase 39 A321neo aircraft.

According to the Mexican company, which did not give details of the value of the transaction, the aircraft “ensure its growth in the second half of the decade.”

In a statement, Volaris said the deal is part of a 255-aircraft acquisition agreement made jointly with airlines Wizz Air, Frontier, and JetSMART, which was announced Sunday by Indigo Partners and Airbus.

Volaris explained that it also negotiated with Airbus “20 A320neo to A321neo aircraft conversions from its current order”.

SOURCE: El Economista

Towards the “New Normal”

DISTRIBUTION OF DEATHS PER STATE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC

Information updated on November 15, 2021 at 19:00 hrs local time.

New cases reported: 775

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

Confirmed cases: 3,846,508

new Deaths reported: 57

Aguascalientes

2965

Baja California

9917

BCS

2356

Campeche

2037

Chiapas

2117

Chihuahua

8188

Coahuila

7481

Colima

2202

Durango

2975

Guanajuato

12750

Guerrero

6008

Hidalgo

7674

Jalisco

17246

Mexico City

52398

Michoacan

7902

Morelos

4716

Nayarit

2952

Nuevo Leon

13205

Oaxaca

5320

Puebla

15444

Queretaro

5771

Quintana Roo

3989

San Luis Potosi

6626

Sinaloa

8817

Sonora

8670

State of Mexico

32480

Tabasco

5712

Tamaulipas

7112

Tlaxcala

2793

Veracruz

14371

Yucatan

5681

Zacatecas

3329

Total

291204

Confirmed Deaths: 291,204

Increase of confirmed cases since the first report 3,846,508

Map with the distribution of the incidence rate of accumulated cases of COVID-19 by entity of residence.

National rate 15.01

Elaborated by Prodensa with information from the Health Ministry of Mexico

PANDEMIC’S situation in the world • As of November 15, 2021, globally there have been reported 253,163,330 confirmed cases (336,733 new cases) of COVID-19 and 5,098,174 deaths (5,413 new deaths*). Lethal rate: 3%. In the last 24 hours, 6,459,838 cases were reported globally.

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

Towards the “New Normal” INCIDENTS OF CONTAGIONS IN THE POPULATION BY REGION AS OF november 15

DEATH INCIDENTS IN POPULATION BY REGION AS OF november 15

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

EHS LABOR

Labor self-assessments tools After months of multiple changes to the legislation, it is time for the companies to adopt the new regulations and make sure that all changes have been implemented timely, and examine the right implementation of all the modifications. One practical way to verify the level of compliance is through the use of business self-diagnostics. Self-diagnostics are instruments that serve both as a guide and as a verification for companies. Organizations can proactively know the level of implementation of the changes and identify pending adjustments to be made. Even when companies can create internal checklists to review their level of compliance, it is best to use compliance guides, either from the labor authority or from business organizations that have created self-diagnostic tools. Contact us to learn more about approved self-assessments.

ALVARO GARCIA HR, Vice President

When can I get a COVID-19 booster shot if I am NOT in one of the recommended groups? Additional populations may be recommended to receive a booster shot as more data become available. The COVID-19 vaccines approved and authorized continue to be effective at reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Experts are looking at all available data to understand how well the vaccines are working for different populations. This includes looking at how new variants, like Delta, affect vaccine effectiveness.

DAVID ANTUNEZ Environmental, Health, and Safety Director.