Governor Mark Dayton will lead a trade mission to Mexico Aug. 9-14. Besides helping Minnesota companies find business opportunities in Mexico, the governor hopes to attract Mexican investments to Minnesota and promote the state as a great place to do business.

Mexico became the state's second-largest export market (behind Canada) in 2014, with sales climbing 52 percent from a year earlier to $2.2 billion. Since 2004, Minnesota exports sales to Mexico have jumped 255 percent, adjusted for inflation.

Minnesota companies send a broad range of manufactured exports to Mexico, including machinery, electrical machinery, vehicles, plastics and foods, as well as agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans.

Mexico is a top three market for nine of the state's top 10 export products. The country is the state's largest market for meat products, miscellaneous grains/seeds, cereals and dairy/eggs and is the state's second-largest market for machinery, vehicles, food byproducts, ores/slag/ash, rubber and processed foods.

Many Minnesota firms are already doing business in Mexico: 31 companies operate 255 foreign subsidiaries there. Minnesota companies doing business in Mexico include:

-- 3M
-- H.B. Fuller
-- St. Jude Medical
-- Medtronic
-- Ecolab
-- Valspar
-- Cargill
-- C.H. Robinson

Mexico is the world's 15th-largest economy, and the outlook is good for continued economic growth. Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) - valued at $1.3 trillion in 2013 - will grow by 3.3 percent to 3.8 percent between 2015 and 2017, by World Bank estimates. By comparison, GDP is projected to grow 1.7 percent to 3.3 percent during that period in South America and Central America and by 3 percent to 3.3 percent in the United States.

Officials expect demand for U.S products will grow in Mexico as more employment opportunities and higher educational attainment increase the purchasing power of Mexicans and expand the middle class.

The Minnesota Trade Office within DEED is coordinating the trade mission.