@article{Bolling:266216,
      recid = {266216},
      author = {Bolling, Chris and Elizalde, Javier Calderon and Handy,  Charles},
      title = {U.S. Firms Invest in Mexico's Processed Food Industry},
      journal = {Food Review/ National Food Review},
      address = {1999-05-05},
      number = {1482-2017-3429},
      year = {1999},
      abstract = {The 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)  between the United States, Canada, and Mexico was  established to enhance trade. The successfulincrease in  trade was accompanied by an even more important sharp  increase in foreign direct investment (FOi) between the  partners, especially between the United States and Mexico.  U.S. exports of processed foods to Mexico, mostly processed  meats, poultry, animal fats, and vegetable oil, increased  from $1.1 billion in 1990 to $2.8 billion in 1998. U.S.  processed food imports from Mexico grew from $1 billion to  $2.5 billion in the same years, and were mostly malt  beverages, prepared fresh and frozen fish, and distilled  spirits (table 1). At the same time, foreign direct  investment (FOi) between the United States, Canada, and  Mexico increased sharply, paving the way for a regional  food system. FOi, or substantial ownership investments in  foreign businesses, allows the investing firm to exercise  control over the use of those assets (unlike foreign  portfolio investment, which is passive and does not seek  control over decisionmaking). The $6.5 billion in sales  generated by U.S. food processing affiliates in Mexico  overshadowed U.S. exports of processed food products to  Mexico by more than a 2-to-l ratio in 1998, making FOi more  responsible than direct exports for the increasing presence  of U.S. food processing firms in Mexico (fig. 1). U.S. FOi  in Mexico's $47 billion processed food industry increased  from $210 million in 1987 to $5 billion in 1997 (fig. 2).  Mexico is now the third largest host country for U.S. FOi  after the United Kingdom and Canada. Nearly three-fourths  of the U.S. FOi in Mexico's food processing sector is in  firms producing a wide variety of highly processed foods  including snack foods, edible vegetable oils, mayonnaise  and salad dressing, meat and poultry, concentrates and  flavorings, confectionery products, and pasta and related  products. About one-tenth of the U.S. FOi is in flour mills  or bakery product companies; about 15 percent is in  breweries and soft drink bottlers. Less than 5 percent is  in fruit and vegetable processors.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/266216},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.266216},
}