The increase in production costs in $0.16 per pound for shrimp It is the impact that the shrimp sector projects due to the elimination of the diesel subsidy for producers with more than 30 hectares.
This is how he calculated them on the afternoon of this Thursday, December 1 José Antonio Camposano, president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), during a press conference in Guayaquil.
The leader assured that the decision to eliminate the subsidy, which according to the Government will represent a saving of $160 million annuallyaffects 82% of the national shrimp area.
Shrimp farms of more than 30 hectares are left without a diesel subsidy
According to Camposano, the measure “is taken at the worst possible moment” and without having been previously discussed to implement compensatory measures that avoid affecting the main export product and generator of 275,000 jobs. In addition, he clarified that the Government’s decision, contrary to what is believed, is not that it impacts only large shrimp vessels and does not affect small ones, since he assured that the measure impacts the entire chain “because it is only one ”.
Between January and September 2022, shrimp exports accumulate $5,676 million in foreign currency, with a growth of 54% in revenue and 32% in volume, according to data from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor).
“Our production chain pays hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and contributions; however, our workers do not receive public health care and it is up to the employers to assume this additional cost. The same happens with road infrastructure, inefficient public services that cost us hours of work, and insecurity that, although being the exclusive responsibility of the Government, our sector must combat with private resources that exceed $80 million a year,” said the leader, who asked : So who ends up subsidizing whom?
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Meanwhile, regarding the alternative indicated by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Pablo Arosemena, Assuring that the trade agreements will open new markets to the shrimp sector, Camposano replied: “That’s like hitting me now and giving me the medicine 3 years later,” by assuring that the results of the trade agreements will take at least this time to achieve. sector.
Finally, the president of the CNA pointed out that the sector has presented alternatives for the migration of fossil fuels towards the electrification of shrimp farms.
Camposano even recalled that there is a plan with CAF financing for $200 million, but due to the lack of signing of the contract by the Government, it is about to be lost, taking into account that the multilateral organization has already extended the term by three times.
In addition, the leader regretted that there has not been, until now, any government decision that has improved the competitive capacity of the sector. He pointed out, for example, that for more than a year there has been no tariff reform that reduces its costs.
“Our official laboratories, which must provide an efficient service for which they charge us more than $8 million a year, do not receive even half of that resource from the Ministry of Finance to do their work,” said Camposano, who assured that this State portfolio allocates these resources to other areas.
He added that the Government forces them to buy local doya that costs 50% more than the imported one, which costs them $15 million a year. “It is the private sector subsidizing the inefficiency of the public sector,” Camposano reiterated. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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