Cancun's Dragon Mart: A Bright Deal for China, Not So Much for Mexico The Yucatan Times
go to original October 22, 2013

It’s a big dream: A massive complex near the resort of Cancun that would be the largest trading center for Chinese products in the Western Hemisphere. (Maickol Tamayo)

Dragon Mart is a new initiative launched in April 2011 as a Mexican-Chinese mega mall planned to promote Chinese “underpriced products” with México and Latin America. This is the second greatest project of China in another country after the one in Dubai, which opened in 2004 with more than 3955 different stores. The initial phase of the project will cost approximately $180 million dollars, providing an opportunity for Chinese companies to make contact with Latin American markets. The project has been received generally with negative views from the local businessmen. It is said among the general population that the Chinese mega mall, will lead to unfair trade and most likely bankrupt local businesses and any other form of competition.

The CONCAMIN (Confederación de cámaras industrials) business association said: “As representatives of the industrial sector, we protect our members and energetically reject a project that will not promote manufacturing, production of Mexican labor.”

Also the locals are concerned about the environmental threat that such a project can cause, saying that the indigenous population of animals will be displaced from their original environment, forcing them to move. This of course is denied by the company building the gigantic endeavor that states “we will use solar panels for clean energy and a water treatment plant in the complex, likewise we´re taking every single precaution in account to damage the least”.

Read the rest at The Yucatan Times

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