Grupo Modelo is building a $760 million brewery in Hidalgo

Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer owned by AB InBev, is building a new brewing and bottling complex in Apan, Hidalgo, with an investment of about 14 billion Mexican pesos, or roughly $760 million. The project adds a major new production site in central Mexico at a time when Mexican beer remains strong at home and abroad, and when trade pressure around imports into the United States continues to shape the industry.

The company has designed the plant for an initial capacity of up to 12 million hectoliters a year. At that scale, the facility would rank among Grupo Modelo’s largest operations worldwide. The site is expected to give the brewer integrated production and bottling capacity in a strategic part of the country, strengthening its supply network for both domestic sales and export markets.

The investment comes as Mexican beer brands, including Corona, continue to hold a prominent place in the U.S. market. Demand for imported Mexican beer has remained an important force in North American beverage sales, even as brewers and distributors face shifting logistics costs, tariff debates and changing competitive conditions. A plant of this size could increase regional supply and improve export flexibility, which may matter across the beer business as producers compete on volume, delivery times and pricing.

Construction of the brewery has already generated significant employment in Hidalgo. More than 4,500 workers have been involved in building the site, according to reports cited by industry coverage. Grupo Modelo has also hired and trained more than 600 people to operate the brewery and bottling plant once production begins.

The Apan project is part of a broader investment plan by AB InBev in Mexico. The company has said Grupo Modelo plans to invest more than $3.6 billion in the country between 2025 and 2027. The new brewery appears to be one of the largest visible pieces of that program so far, underscoring Mexico’s role as a core manufacturing base for one of the world’s biggest brewing groups.

Mexico already stands as the world’s leading beer exporter, with Corona serving as its flagship international brand. That position has made brewing capacity inside the country especially important not only for local consumption but also for overseas shipments. Expanding output in Hidalgo could help Grupo Modelo respond to future demand growth while reinforcing Mexico’s place in global beer trade.

The announcement also lands amid political pressure in the United States over where beer sold to American consumers should be made. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the country’s largest unions, recently renewed calls for tariffs on Mexican beer and argued that more beer for the U.S. market should be brewed by American workers rather than produced across the border. Those demands do not change current trade flows on their own, but they add uncertainty for brewers with cross-border supply chains.

For beverage companies, that tension matters beyond one brand or one plant. Large capital spending on breweries can reshape supply balances across regions for years, affecting freight routes, packaging demand, distributor planning and export competition. If trade barriers were to rise later, producers with heavy exposure to imported beer could face higher costs or pressure to adjust sourcing. If they do not, expanded Mexican capacity could further support shipments into key markets where imported lagers remain popular.

Apan, located in Hidalgo in central Mexico, offers Grupo Modelo a position closer to major domestic transport corridors while adding another large-scale industrial hub to its network. The combination of brewing and bottling at one site suggests an effort to streamline operations and reduce inefficiencies tied to moving bulk beer between facilities before packaging.

AB InBev has not publicly detailed in this report how much of the future output from Apan will be directed to exports versus domestic consumption. But with an initial annual capacity of up to 12 million hectoliters, the plant gives Grupo Modelo room to serve both channels at meaningful scale. In a beer market where demand can shift quickly across borders and where policy risk remains part of business planning, that added capacity may prove as important strategically as it is operationally.