Container crisis also affects shrimp marketing in northern Manabi

PORTOVIEJO

Lowering prices is the only way out that several shrimp producers in the Pedernales canton, in Manabí, have considered due to the container crisis that has caused some exporting companies that buy the crustacean to purchase less product.

Alvin Vera, one of the producers in the area, pointed out that in the face of this problem they are forced to lower the price of shrimp, which is currently at an average of $ 1.50 per pound, or failing that, sell it to the local market, at prices that in some cases do not exceed $ 1.20 per pound.

“We have had this problem since the end of October, already almost a month, although (low prices) always occur in December, there is talk of the container crisis, that means that exporters cannot get the product,” stated Vera

The lack of containers for export creates a lot of uncertainty, recognizes Julián Phillips, another shrimp producer from Pedernales, as this affects the price of the product directly.

“Because speculation is created for the product, it is a product and cannot be in excess in the pool because it starts to generate a lot of expense,” Phillips acknowledged.

This producer believes that in the face of this crisis, one of the solutions that could help the sector is to improve the energy system in this canton or to plan the use of clean energy to lower production costs.

With $ 2,222 million and 13% growth, shrimp leads non-oil exports in the first half of the year

In a recent publication, Felipe Ribadeneira Molestina, president of Fedexpor, acknowledged that the export sector is currently facing one of the most complex moments in terms of competitiveness, among these causes is the global logistics crisis, which causes increases in the cost of movement of goods in the world.

In this world crisis, another factor that generates uncertainty in the Ecuadorian export and import sector is the lack of security generated by the contamination of some products, a fact that also generates an internal cost assumed by the entrepreneurs.

“Organized crime does not stop and, to combat it, all public and private actors linked to the export chain must join forces in a joint and comprehensive plan to counteract the negative impacts generated by hidden costs on the burden that export companies face. ”Ribadeneira declared.

It was precisely the export of shrimp, the non-oil product that generated the most foreign exchange to Ecuador in 2020, with a sale that reached $ 3,824 million, which nevertheless meant a decrease of 2% in the value collected in relation to what was exported in 2019.

According to statistics from the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), between January and August 2021 the export of Ecuadorian shrimp had already generated an income of $ 3,175 million for the country, ranking as the first non-oil product that generates the most foreign currency at Ecuador, followed by bananas with $ 2,345 million and the sale of tuna and canned fish, which already exceeded $ 1,100 million in the first eight months of this year. (I)