For Ecuador and its efforts to sign trade agreements, December 14, 2022 will be a key date. That day the agreements of the Pacific Alliance will be signed in Lima and the president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, has announced that they will be “Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico; and Ecuador is going to enter, and it is basically a free trade agreement…”. In this way, he also advanced the signing of the agreement between Ecuador and Mexico, an essential requirement for entry.
That day the China Lac fair will also take place in Guayaquil and it is expected to sign a technical memorandum of understanding before the final signing of a Free Trade Agreement with China, another of the trade agreements that is being negotiated simultaneously, together with South Korea, which is expected to close in the second half of 2023; Costa Rica, which would also be signed in December, and Canada, with which talks began weeks ago.
“We cannot close a trade agreement with Mexico if bananas, shrimp and tuna are not included with some type of market access”
What is known to date about the entry of star products from Ecuador to Mexico? Until last November 24, the situation of bananas, shrimp and tuna in the agreement was not resolved and since last May, when the last face-to-face round of negotiations closed in Quito, they became a bottleneck for progress. of process.
However, one week after Ecuador’s announced entry into the Pacific Alliance, the outlook seems to be unlocking, at least for one of these three products. Daniel Legarda, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, confirmed on the morning of December 6 that the “fishing has already been resolved, only shrimp and bananas are missing.”
This puts an end to a troubled process in which even the National Chamber of Fisheries (CNP), the Ecuadorian Chamber of Industrialists and Tuna Processors (Ceipa) and the Association of Tuna Boaters of Ecuador (Atunec) asked the Government to leave out of the negotiations for this product due to the conditions that the Mexican party demanded within the treaty.
This was that the Ecuadorian fishing sector had to report its activities to the Mexican side, which was described as detrimental to the Ecuadorian industry by the national unions that also assured that the activities are already supervised by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, of the which Mexico is a part of.
Another Mexican request that bothered the Ecuadorian industry was the requirement that the tuna entering their market be only caught by Ecuadorian-flagged fleets in favor of sustainability, that is, they asked for a closed origin of fishing; when Ecuador sought that the origin of the fishing be open, that it come, in addition to Ecuadorian ships, from vessels of other flags such as Colombia, Peru and others.
Three unions from Ecuador ask to exclude fishing from the negotiations of the trade agreement with Mexico
Ecuador is the second largest tuna producer in the world, with a production of between 560,000 and 600,000 tons per year, only behind Thailand, according to CNP figures.
So, under what conditions will Ecuadorian tuna enter the Mexican market? Legarda pointed out without giving further details: “It improves our access to the market, and we have already resolved the sustainable fishing annex, which was a concern of the sector.”
However, in an interview with a radio outlet, he revealed: “The agreement with Mexico is going to be an opportunity, it is not one of the most important markets for the fishing sector, but it is going to help us to continue adding,” said Legarda. .
Regarding the improvement of market access, it should be remembered that Ecuador was already entering Mexico through Partial Agreement 29, tax-free. This trade instrument entered into force on August 6, 1987 and was renegotiated on May 31, 1993.
Shrimp and banana expect to enter this week
Meanwhile, shrimp and bananas are still pending, although Legarda hopes that these issues will be resolved this week. “We’re on it. Mexico promised to contemplate the inclusion of shrimp and bananas after the meeting of presidents, and that is what is being defined.”
For his part, José Antonio Hidalgo, executive director of the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE), confirmed that it is in the process of negotiation.
“Our red line is access to the Mexican market for a matter of precedents, we understand that the negotiating teams are dealing with them and we hope that the best results for the country, if the main products are not in a trade agreement there is no reason to have a I agree,” said the leader.
According to figures from the Banana Marketing and Export Association (Acorbanec), based on figures from the Trademap platform that covers 220 countries and territories and 5,300 products, Ecuador exported 6’813,409 metric tons of bananas to the world in 2021, which ranked as the first exporter globally.
Meanwhile, Mexico exported 488,078 tons and ranked sixth in the ranking, behind Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Philippines.
Regarding shrimp, the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) indicated that on the afternoon of December 6 they will participate in a meeting of the Deputy Room, where they hope to know details of the progress of the negotiations.
The Mexican aquaculture industry generates around $1 billion each year. The main producing state is Sinaloa with 40.3% of the country’s total production, followed by Sonora (39.7%) and Nayarit (7.5%), Tamaulipas (4.8%) and others (7.7%). %).
Why is Ecuadorian shrimp so feared by its competitors?
Shrimp production in Mexico has shown a gradual increase since 2013. In 2020, around 219,000 metric tons were produced, according to figures from the Mexican Agro-Food and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP), with a decrease of 5.7% compared to to 2019.
While, Aquaculture Magazine published on December 27, 2021 a ranking in which it positioned Ecuador as the first country to produce 1 million tons of shrimp, above China, Vietnam, India, among others, which placed the country as the largest shrimp producer in the previous year, in which the Ecuadorian aquaculture industry generated a total of $5,323 million.
Meanwhile, from the Ecuador-Mexico Binational Chamber of Commerce (Comecuamex), its executive director, Alexandra Mosquera, also hopes that details of the negotiations will be revealed at the meeting of the Fourth Deputy. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
