The drop in shrimp prices on international markets has hit the “best shrimp in the world.” Ecuador’s shrimp industry is looking with concern at the latest export data showing that last August the sector slowed by 6%, compared to August 2022, according to José Antonio Camposan, president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), who revealed that exports increased by 15% in that month, less than in August 2022 (+21%).

The situation worsened when Camposano assured that despite the fact that there is a growing volume of exports, the sector receives less income. According to the latest data from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (FedExpor), from January to July, the sector exported 14% more in volume, but in turn achieved 2% less turnover; and according to the head of CNA, by August the decrease in foreign currency reaches 5%.

If only August is taken into account, the collection reduction reaches -11%.

In 2022, shrimp production was 24% more expensive than in 2021, and aquaculturists predict the same problems in 2023.

According to CNA statistics, Ecuador exported 217.4 million pounds last August, generating $489,472 at an average price per pound of $2.25. Meanwhile, in August 2022, 183.7 million pounds were exported for $534,545 at an average price of $2.91 per pound.

“There is a contraction even though the volume is increasing. It is clear that there is a trend, we will probably end up with lower exports from 2022 in collection, invest a huge effort and produce 15 percent more and sell 15 percent more, this is the result of falling prices,” Camposano said worriedly. .

Analyzing the main markets for Ecuadorian shrimp, the head of CNA pointed out that first, China has serious problems in its economy, which translates into less buying because the yuan has the lowest exchange rate in the last fifteen years. Camposano. “This means that more dollars are needed to buy shrimp, and the Ecuadorian product becomes more expensive because of the pure exchange rate,” he pointed out. In the case of the United States, he expressed that there is a 12% drop in purchases from him seafood (seafood), when 96% of that segment in the United States is imported, and shrimp represents 35% of total purchases seafood that country.

Shrimps exceeded the mark of 5000 million dollars exported abroad

Examining the European Union, Camposano pointed out that two countries have declared themselves in recession, and one of them is Germany. Taking into account these impacts, the leader stated that the total losses amount to between 1.2 and 1.3 billion dollars, only if the sales of the sector are transformed with last year’s prices. “It’s an alarming, complicated, complex situation that creates impacts of different kinds within the company,” Camposano described.

This will be reflected in lower revenues at the end of the year, he warned. “The income will be lower than in 2022, last year, according to the data of the Central Bank, it was 7.3 billion dollars, we will very likely be below that figure,” Camposano calculated. He added that the impact is compounded by uncertainty costing the sector around $100 million a year in 2023, plus between $0.11 and $0.14 per pound produced by the removal of diesel subsidies for the shrimp sector, although this is linked to how the price of oil behaves se, but it can represent between 80 and 100 million dollars.

“Just the impact of the cost of fuel, plus the cost of uncertainty, we’re talking about at least $200 million in cost overruns for the sector, just because of these two variables; To that should be added the drop in prices, and with that we arrive at a calculation of more or less 1.3 billion dollars between costs and loss of income due to the drop in prices”, analyzed the leader.

“Shrimp did not outperform oil, crude oil collapsed and declined”

However, despite the problems in that sector, from January to July it was the country’s first export product, even surpassing crude oil (not including derivatives). Cancer recorded $4.396 million in exports from January to July this year, about $314 million more than crude oil in the same period ($4.082 million), according to the Central Bank.

Camposano was cautious when reviewing these figures and assures that the union’s approach is different. “Shrimp did not outperform… Oil collapsed in 2023 and when it collapsed, it gave way to the shrimp sector,” the expert analyzed.

In 2023, shrimp dethroned oil for the first time as the first export product with 314 million dollars

In addition, he had his observations on the comparison of shrimp to oil ensuring that the oil industry is a public industry for the extraction of non-renewable resources, while the activity of shrimp is private and for the production of a highly renewable good.

Camposano made a projection that oil will recover in the second half of the year and will be able to outperform shrimp. This already happened last July when crude oil regained the top spot after six months below the crabs. Despite this, he pointed out that shrimp farming creates 290,000 jobs, of which 145,000 are direct.