Shrimp, despite facing difficulties in recent months due to costs and prices, continues to be the star product among Ecuador’s traditional non-oil products. The latest official data reports almost 43% increase in revenue. But in the group of non-traditional non-oil export products, gold shows the highest growth: 51.5%.
The Ministry of Production published the latest foreign trade figures that up to now account for exports from January to November and these show that the sale of shrimp represented $6,794.3 million in foreign currency to the country, only surpassed by those of crude oil which reached $9,258.5 million (30% increase). Gold exports are far from those values with $747.8 million in revenue, but they were the ones that grew the most.
November and December ‘tarnish’ record year of shrimp exports
Mining is among the non-traditional non-oil products and there the lead and copper concentrate represents $1,264.6 million, which is 39% more than what was exported between January and November 2021. Other mining products have also grown but in lower proportion, at 10%, which however is a higher percentage than that reflected in the exports of other of the main Ecuadorian export products such as canned fish, which have an increase of 9.2%, or cocoa that reports 6% more sales revenue; the others, such as bananas and fish, have dropped between 4% and 7%.
Production Minister Julio José Prado has commented that the mining sector is rapidly becoming one of the country’s main non-traditional export sectors. “It is already becoming Ecuador’s third or fourth export product until the end of this year,” he said at the end of last December.
Record in the export sector in 2022, but with different realities
In total, Ecuador’s exports in the eleven months of 2022 reach $30,052 million, including oil sales, and are better than those of 2021, since compared to the same period of that year there are $5,455 million more exported or the equivalent of a growth of 22%.
Of that amount sold abroad, 36% corresponds to oil and derivatives and 64% are other traditional, non-traditional, mining products.
The Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor) details that until November 2022 non-oil exports increased 19% and also non-oil imports increased by 20%.
In the absence of December data, the total trade balance registered a favorable balance of $2,139 million, the result of a trade surplus of $3,656 million in the oil balance and a deficit of $1,516 million in the non-oil balance. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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