BRIC nations continue to attract investment

Global economic uncertainty and Middle East political turmoil are doing little to dim the attraction of emerging markets, said supply chain management analysts.

According to London-based Transport Intelligence (Ti), despite the economic slowdown and political upheaval, output in powerhouse economies such as Brazil, China and India remains high. Furthermore, the so-called “Arab Spring” countries are now viewed as more attractive places to do business.

Ti’s 2012 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, released this week, ?show that a “second-half slowdown” in 2011 cooled growth in virtually every region of the world at a time when regimes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other Middle East countries were collapsing in the face of popular unrest. ?

The annual Index spotlights 41 emerging markets and ranks them by their investment potential and progress each year. Attractiveness is measured by: market size and growth, market compatibility (foreign direct investment, security, urbanization and wealth distribution) and market connectedness (international and domestic transport infrastructure).

The report is sponsored by global logistics provider Agility.

As part of the Index, 550 senior logistics executives were surveyed. Ti analysts said, for the first time, the Index offers trade lane analysis from 2005 to 2011.?

As reported in SCMR, the Cambashi Country Observatory came to many of the same conclusions regarding Asia Pacific region upstarts.

The countries that dominated the Ti rankings continued to be those that combine size and robust growth. China ranked first; India second; Brazil third. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) came in Nos. 4 and 5, and Indonesia and Russia at Nos. 6 and 7, respectively. Malaysia moved up three places from last year’s rankings to land at No. 8. Chile was No. 9, and Mexico was No. 10, falling two places.

“Emerging markets are more resilient and independent than they’ve ever been,” said Essa Al-Saleh, Agility’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Global Integrated Logistics. “There’s growing evidence that their dependence on the established markets is diminishing as new trade lanes grow and consumer demand in huge markets like China and India gathers strength. In the Middle East, where we saw old regimes fall, the Index indicates that logistics professionals see the region as ‘open for business’ in a way that it wasn’t before.”?

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