Short answer
To find a manufacturer in Latin America, start from each country's official registry, which lists companies because they exist, not because they signed up. Testigo puts 545,104 plants from 9 national registries in one free search, each with its source and edition.
Key facts
- Countries
- 9: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
- Plants on record
- 545,104
- Search languages
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian words are matched
- Cost
- Free. A free account opens full records, lists and export
- Data file
2026-10-05
Start from the registry, not from a list of sign-ups
There are two kinds of supplier list. One is built from companies that signed up or paid to be shown. The other is the official record: a tax register, a company register or a statistical directory. A company is in it because the law or a census put it there.
The official record is wider and it is dated. Its weakness is that every country publishes a different file, in its own language, with its own codes. Reading nine of them one at a time is slow. Testigo reads each one as published and puts them behind one search.
Seven steps
- Describe the part, not the supplierSearch for a product, a process or a material:
aluminum die casting,wire harness,injection molding. The search matches plant names, the registry's activity description and a dictionary of products, processes and materials. All words must match. - Pick the countriesType a country name or use the country filter. Countries differ in what they publish, so decide first whether you need an exact plant address, a contact, or only a list of companies to approach. The table below shows what each one gives.
- Narrow by sector, size and regionFilter by sector and by state or region. Use size where the registry gives one. Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay publish no size, so the size filter leaves them out.
- Read the record before you write to anyoneOpen a result. Each line shows its source and edition. Check what kind of row it is: an establishment at its own address, or a company at its registered address.
- Find a way to reach the plantUse the contact the registry publishes, where there is one. Where there is none, the legal name and tax ID on the record let you find the company through its own channels.
- Save and exportWith a free account, save plants to a list with your notes, save the search, and export the list as CSV for your own tracker.
- Check before you visitBefore you spend a trip, read what the public record can and cannot tell you about each plant on your list. See how to check a supplier before you visit.
What each country gives you
Finding plants, country by country
| Country | On Testigo | Rows are | Size filter | Published contacts | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 79,382 | Establishments | Yes, staff band | Phone, email and website where INEGI publishes them | Exact, every row |
| Brazil | 202,964 | Establishments of companies | Yes, company size class | Phone and email for most rows | Approximate |
| Argentina | 74,039 | Companies | No | None | Approximate |
| Colombia | 70,609 | Companies | No | Only for companies in the state supplier register | Approximate |
| Peru | 75,163 | Companies | Yes, where the worker count is published | None | Approximate |
| Chile | 28,260 | Companies, plus plants in the emissions register | Yes, worker count | None | Exact for plants in the emissions register, approximate for the rest |
| Ecuador | 11,767 | Companies | No | Phone | Approximate |
| Paraguay | 2,270 | Companies | No | None | Approximate |
| Uruguay | 650 | Companies | No | Phone and email for most rows, a website for part of them | Approximate |
Activity codes: one idea, several systems
Every registry classifies what a company does with a code, and the systems differ. Mexico uses SCIAN. Brazil uses CNAE. Argentina uses CLAE. Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay use national versions of CIIU, the Spanish name of the United Nations classification ISIC. Peru's file gives the activity as text, which Testigo matched to the ISIC classes.
You do not need to know the codes. Testigo maps each system to the same sector list, so one sector filter works across countries. The record still shows the code as the registry wrote it.
Paraguay's file has no activity code. Its companies are found by name only, and they do not appear under a sector filter.
Limits to keep in mind
- An activity code is what the company declared. It tells you the kind of product, not the exact part, the machines or the tolerances.
- In most countries a row is a company and the address is the registered one. The plant may be elsewhere.
- Not every row of every registry is loaded yet. Very small establishments in Mexico and micro companies in Brazil are not. The rule for each country is on the coverage page.
- Where a registry mixes companies and natural persons, Testigo keeps legal entities only. Mexico is the exception: its directory lists establishments by trade name, whoever owns them.
- A registry tells you a company exists. It does not tell you the company is good at what it does. See what we check.
Countries the search does not reach
Testigo looked for a usable public source in 9 more countries and found none: Honduras, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela. The reason is different in each. Some publish a directory with the names removed. One forbids commercial reuse.
The United States and Canada are planned. Nothing is loaded for them yet.
Prefer to browse?
The directory has one page per country and manufacturing activity, 1,377 in all, each with its count, its source and a link into the live search. It covers every live country except Paraguay, which has no activity codes.
Frequently asked questions
Is there one registry of manufacturers for all of Latin America?
No. Each country publishes its own file, through its tax office, its company register or its statistics office. The files differ in language, in fields and in what a row means. Testigo reads the registry of each of the countries it covers and makes them searchable together, keeping the source and edition on every record.
Which country has the most detailed public record of factories?
Mexico. Its directory lists establishments, not companies, with an address, coordinates, an activity code and a staff band for every row, and contacts for part of them. Its weakness is that it has no tax ID. Brazil's register has a tax ID, phone and email for most rows, but no coordinates.
Can I search in English for plants registered in Spanish or Portuguese?
Yes. The search matches your words against the plant name, the activity description in the source language and in English, and a dictionary of products, processes and materials in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian. A search for wire harness finds plants registered under the Spanish or Portuguese term.
Do I need an account to search?
No. Anyone can search and see the count and the first ten results. A free account opens every result, the full record with the address and the contacts the registry publishes, saved lists with your notes, saved searches and CSV export. Paid plans are not available yet.
Sources
- Coverage: every registry, publisher and editionTestigo · edition 2026-10-05
- DENUEINEGI, Mexico · edition 2026-05-20
- Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (CNPJ)Receita Federal, Brazil · edition 2026-09-14
- ISIC Rev. 4 structure, SpanishUnited Nations Statistics Division · edition Rev. 4