The sector invests in expanding process lines, genetic research and technification, where it awaits the start of the farm electrification process.
With $ 3,691 million exported from January to last September and a growth of 32% compared to the same period of 2020, shrimp is long positioned as the first non-oil export product of the country.
Far away, $ 1,093 million away, his escort, the banana, appears with $ 2,598 million in exports.
The crustacean also leads exports in important markets such as the United States, the European Union and China, the latter being its main destination with $ 1,501 million, according to figures from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor).
Of this domain and validity in international markets, José Antonio Camposano, president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), endorses responsibilities, mainly referred to the constant investments that the aquaculture sector makes.
New services and technological advances for the shrimp industry are exhibited at the Aquaexpo Guayaquil 2021
He affirmed that these resources have allowed the sector to counteract serious competitiveness problems that Ecuador has and that until now have not been addressed head-on.
“The shrimp sector, of the entire export chain, is one of those that is making the most investment, because the Ecuadorian businessman who exports is used to investing constantly, because if he does not invest as his assets depreciate, to the extent that their infrastructure ages, loses productivity, it happens with shrimp farms “, explained the leader that although he does not have exact figures on the size of the investment and places it at” tens of millions of dollars “, he assured that the investment contracts signed with the Government give an idea of these resources placed.
EL UNIVERSO newspaper consulted about the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, which reported that since 2019 they have registered a total of seven investment contracts signed in the shrimp sector, which add up to an investment of $ 155.7 million and the commitment to generate 833 new jobs in the country.
In addition, to date, nine requests for investment contracts in the shrimp sector are being processed, which add up to an estimated investment of $ 55.5 million, with a projection of generating 358 new jobs in Ecuador.
What is invested in?
Camposano indicated that each actor invests as required. Today, for example, there are important investments in the export sector for expansion of the process lines, for more cold spaces.
This specific type of investment has occurred in the last two or three years, due to increased processing.
“Thank God we have done it, because it is what has allowed us to partially overcome the problem of containers that is very serious, 30% less export and between 30% to 50% less processing from this week, more or less what happened in a pandemic that we could not process because we did not have staff, today we cannot buy shrimp to process it because we do not have where to store it, because there is not enough space to export it, “the leader expressed concerned.
Other segments to which companies derive important resources are genetic research, modernization, equipment and technology. Empacreci, for example, a shrimp packing plant that has been operating since 2007, invested this month $ 4 million in a value-added plant.
Carolina Crespo, Sales and Export Manager of the company, assured that in the last five years they have invested around $ 10 million in total, including the last investment.
He added that their production is 500,000 pounds per day and they export whole shrimp, shrimp tails and added value (PUD, P&D Tail-on, P&D Tail-off, PPV, Butterfly) to markets such as the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, China, Chile and South Korea.
“As consumption or demand increases, the idea of investing always remains,” said Crespo.
According to the president of the CNA, the private sector is doing its part, but the public counterpart is also needed, for example, in the process of electrification of shrimp farms that is paralyzed in the Ministry of Finance for more than a month and that was announced in 2019, during the Lenín Moreno administration.
Camposano assured that last October the Ministry of Energy delivered the information to Finance, but in December the second extension of the deadline given by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) for the signing of the contract $ 200 million for the construction of infrastructure work.
A loan of $ 200 million is managed with the CAF for the electrification of the shrimp sector
He assured that the disbursements would be programmed to reach about $ 40 million annually; but there is an investment plan from the Ministry of Finance for the construction of this infrastructure that will bring electricity to around 60,000 ha of shrimp farms.
A process to strengthen electrification lines is also planned.
“The internal distribution, all the internal wiring is the responsibility of the shrimp farmer, the investments of the shrimp farmer can be between $ 3,500 and $ 6,500 per hectare,” calculated Camposano, who assured that the process is planned to take between four or five years.
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