## Plant counts by activity and region, with a source you can cite URL: https://testigomexico.com/for/research Updated: 2026-10-07 Testigo publishes counts of manufacturing plants by country, region and activity for 9 Latin American countries, each with the registry it was read from and the edition date. The tables are free to read, each one downloads as a CSV file, and every page says how to cite it. Key facts: - Mexico: 656,617 manufacturing establishments in DENUE, edition 2026-05-20 - Brazil: 580,085 manufacturing establishments of active legal entities, CNPJ, edition 2026-09-14 - Activity pages in the directory: 1,391 - Downloads: CSV, counts only - Price: Free to read and to cite ### The problem with headline counts A client asks how many auto parts plants there are in a state, or which regions hold the most metal fabricators. The numbers in circulation disagree, and most name no registry and no date. You cannot put them in a report. Testigo counts rows of the official registry and says which rows it counted. The registry, the publisher and the edition date sit beside every figure, so a reader can go back to the source. ### What Testigo gives an analyst - Statistics pages for each country: plants by region, by sector, by size where the registry records it, and the largest activities. - A CSV file for every table, built from the same data file as the page. - Directory pages by country, industry and activity code, each opening with the count and its source. - Region pages for the countries whose registry names a region on nearly every row. - The methodology: what a row is in each registry, which rows are loaded, and how a count is made. - The licence each publisher states, on the coverage page. ### An example: Mexico DENUE, published by INEGI, lists 656,617 manufacturing establishments in its 2026-05-20 edition. Of those, 39,790 have 11 or more staff and 14,361 have 51 or more. Testigo holds 655,218 of them, in 32 states and 293 activity codes. The Mexico statistics page gives the same count by state and by sector, with the share of plants that publish a website. Each state with enough plants has its own page with its largest activities and municipalities. Counts for all 9 countries, with the files to download. ### How to cite a count Name Testigo, the registry, its publisher and its edition, then the page and the day you read it. For example: Testigo, from INEGI DENUE, edition 2026-05-20, testigomexico.com/statistics/mexico. - Use the count and the edition shown on the page you read. Counts change when a publisher releases a new edition. - Say what the unit is. In Mexico and Brazil a row is an establishment. In the other countries a row is a company. - Give the registry's total beside the loaded rows where they differ. Both are on every statistics page. ### What the counts are not - They are registry rows, not a census of production. A registry can hold units that no longer operate. - Countries are not directly comparable. Each registry has its own unit, its own activity classification and its own rule for what is active. - Size is recorded by staff in Mexico, by a revenue class in Brazil, and not at all in several countries. - Colombia's extract names a department on a small share of rows, so its regional table is partial and says so. ### Questions **How many manufacturers are there in Mexico?** DENUE, the national directory published by INEGI, lists 656,617 manufacturing establishments in its 2026-05-20 edition. Most are very small: 39,790 have 11 or more staff. Testigo loads 655,218 of them and leaves out rows with no name. The statistics page breaks the count down by state. **Can I use the CSV files in a report?** Yes. The files hold counts only, never a plant. Each row names the registry and the edition it came from. Credit Testigo and the publisher of the registry. Colombia's registry carries a share-alike licence, so a table built from it keeps that licence. The coverage page states the licence of every source. **How often do the numbers change?** A count changes when a publisher releases a new edition and Testigo loads it. The edition date is on every page and in every file, and the data file date is shown beside it. An address on Testigo always shows the current edition, so record the edition when you cite a figure. **Do you have counts by city?** Region pages list the ten municipalities with the most plants in each region. There is no page per city today. The search, with an account, filters by state or region and shows the municipality of each plant, so a list for one city can be built and exported there. Sources: - DENUE, INEGI, edition 2026-05-20: https://www.inegi.org.mx/app/descarga/?ti=6 - CNPJ, Receita Federal, edition 2026-09-14: https://dados.gov.br/dados/conjuntos-dados/cadastro-nacional-da-pessoa-juridica---cnpj - RUES, Confecámaras, edition 2026-10-02: https://www.datos.gov.co/ Cite as: Testigo, "Plant counts by activity and region, with a source you can cite", https://testigomexico.com/for/research, data file 2026-10-12. --- This is the Markdown version of https://testigomexico.com/for/research. Testigo: Testigo is supplier intelligence for people who source from Latin America: a search over manufacturers taken from the official public registry of each country. Each record shows its source, its date and what was not checked.