A new investment contract worth 23 million dollars was recently signed by the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, this time with the company Precisagro, for the construction of a fertilizer factory and formulation of agricultural products. This agreement is part of 21 investment agreements approved so far in 2023 by the Strategic Committee for the Promotion and Attraction of Investments (Cepai).

Companies opting for this figure have committed to invest in Ecuador totaling $890,065,164.77 and create 1,742 direct jobs, according to the Vice President of the Ministry of Export and Investment Promotion.

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The industrial sector is the second sector that concentrates these new investments agreed with the Government, just behind mining, which covers 47% of these contracts. And mining has a significant percentage of exports, according to the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), which from January to July totaled $1,952.70 million, representing 21.42% more than what was exported in the same period. 2022. Minerals are the fourth most exported products of Ecuador, behind shrimp, crude oil and bananas.

The Ministry of Support details the economic sectors where this $890 million investment will take place:

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The contract signed last week with Precisagra includes the construction of a factory for the production of fertilizers and agricultural inputs, according to the Ministry of Production.

Precisagro is a company that is part of the international corporation Disagro, is of Guatemalan origin and is present in ten Latin American countries. “We are a leading company in the supply of fertilizers and agricultural inputs, specializing in offering end-to-end solutions to farmers through a broad portfolio of products, services and technologies,” according to its website.

For this process, the vice president of the Ministry of Export and Investment Promotion states that in May 2022, with a deadline of September of the same year, he submitted a request to the Ministry of Production to sign an investment agreement with the state in order to protect investments intended for the “construction and start-up of a fertilizer and input formulation factory for the agricultural sector.”

Then, with a resolution, Cepai approved the signing of the investment agreement, which took place on Wednesday, September 20, in Guayaquil.

The VP states that the investment period is until 2027, “according to the investment dynamics, the construction of the new plant will be carried out in 2027”. It will be located in Guayaquil, between Daule and Perimetral roads. For the period 2022-2024. 95 jobs are planned. The total investment amounts to USD 23,497,490. The origin of the investment is 91% financing and 9% share of shareholders. Furthermore, the requirement for the validity period of the contract is fourteen, counting from the signature. All these data, according to the state portfolio.

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Investment contracts are an instrument that, according to the Ministry of Production, provides legal certainty to companies making a new investment in the country, as well as tax benefits, access to national or international arbitration, which are applicable to regulations declared essential. in the economic sector in which the new investment is being developed.

According to the state portfolio, tax incentives consist of:

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In 2022, Ecuador managed to sign 169 contracts to invest 3.2 billion dollars in business projects that offer the creation of 15,000 jobs.

Among the announcements of investments by both companies and the Government is an investment of 30 million dollars confirmed in August by the German Grünenthal for the construction of a new factory in Ecuador for the production of medicines that will be exported to the European Union. It would be located in the Pomasqui sector, in Quito.

Meanwhile, President Guillermo Lasso himself said that McDonald’s plans to invest $36 million in Ecuador. “It would be the largest investment the company would make in the last 35 years,” and could create more than 1,200 direct jobs, the president said Sept. 25 after a meeting with McDonald’s director of corporate affairs for Latin America, Marlene Fernández., during his trip to the United States.