New markets, which will be opened with trade agreements, will be able to accommodate surplus production of Ecuadorian agriculture

The commercial opening that the country began to seek with the negotiations of trade agreements with various international markets from 2022 may be the answer to place the production surpluses of various agricultural products.

This was stated by Bernardo Manzano, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), when asked by Diario EL UNIVERSO about the importance that the trade agreements that Ecuador is negotiating could mean for agriculture.

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“The agricultural sector is going to be quite key in these free trade agreements to be able to evacuate all our surpluses and be able to continue planting even more areas and be able to continue exporting,” explained Manzano, who added that, as these new markets open up , the country must take advantage to expand its destinations, and he did not rule out that the State can also participate through the National Agricultural Registry, and that “the State machinery can invest in important things so that we can export, we can produce.”

This, in a context in which Ecuador is negotiating several agreements in parallel: with Mexico and South Korea, which are in advanced stages; and with Costa Rica and China, with which technical negotiations have already been closed.

In this regard, the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, clarified that Ecuador’s priorities are focused on China and South Korea, leaving Mexico and Ecuador’s entry into the Pacific Alliance in the background due to the Mexican decision to exclude from the treated the two main products of the exportable basket of Ecuador: shrimp and bananas.

“It is that they are two emblematic products of Ecuador. We cannot sign a free trade agreement that does not include bananas and shrimp; that’s impossible. Now, we have the good news that we have finished the technical agreements of the free trade agreement with China, which is a market of 1.4 billion people. So we are also going to think about it with South Korea, with whom I hope to have reached a technical agreement before March 31. And we are working with Costa Rica, we are working with Panama and the Dominican Republic, with Canada, to expand the markets for Ecuadorian products,” said Lasso, who stated that the priority is currently South Korea and China.

Regarding this last market, Manzano considers it key, above all, to strengthen the commercial part of Ecuadorian agriculture.

“The free trade agreement with China is very important. It is a market of 1.4 billion people, of which 800 million people have significant purchasing power. China has a lot of money on its hands right now. The good thing in this case for agriculture is that there are no alerts for agriculture, especially in family and peasant agriculture,” said the minister, who assured that in the negotiations it was possible to protect Ecuadorian farmers, but at the same time gained access for its products to the Chinese market.

“Even though we are protected on our side, we can enter your market; that is key for us. The Chinese market needs to feed itself”, and the Asian giant represents great opportunities for products such as dairy, meat and vegetables; in addition, to strengthen other traditional products, such as bananas and cocoa.

According to figures from the Association of Livestock Farmers of the Coast and Galapagos, Ecuador produces around 5,000,000 liters of milk per day, and has an oversupply of 300,000 liters. While the livestock sector produces 200,000 metric tons of beef per year, which covers the national demand.

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According to figures from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), from January to October 2022, China was the first destination for Ecuador’s non-oil, non-mining supply. During this period, non-oil non-mining exports to the Asian country grew by 80%.

The first Ecuadorian export product to that market is shrimp, which in the first ten months of the year grew 97% in foreign currency generation, with $3.39 billion, compared to the same period in 2021; while in volume it increased by 63%.

It is followed by wood and its manufactures, with $114 million, 4% more than in 2021; and bananas, with $86 million, although fruit shipments experienced a setback: -4% in foreign currency and -10% in volume.

Fruits rank seventh in Ecuadorian exports to China, with $6 million, -45% in foreign currency and -32% in volume compared to what was exported from January to October 2021. In all of 2021, Ecuador exported fruits for $12 million to China. (YO)