Mangoes, dragon fruit and pork were presented as potential export products to South Korea, a country with which Ecuador signed a Strategic Economic Cooperation Agreement (SECA) on October 10, 2023.

In the case of mangoes, the health protocol for the entry of this fruit into the South Korean market has already been finalized and the market will be open at the end of this year. The opening process started with pork and pitah, said Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries Daniel Legarda.

Ecuador and South Korea completed the pre-signing of a trade agreement

Legarda indicated that currently Ecuador has an export structure of about $100 million to non-oil producers in the Asian country, but with a trade agreement it could “be much more.” Tariffs on products such as bananas, shrimp, coffee and others average between 20% and 30%.

“With the trade agreement, 99% of Ecuador’s current export supply will enter this market with zero tariffs, most of them immediately, the rest for a certain period of time, and we will also be able to enter new export products that, over a period of time, will also be able to reach zero to increase exports, increase products and companies that are involved in international markets, in this case in South Korea,” said Legarda.

The official indicated that they also want to accelerate the reduction of tariffs on raw materials, inputs, capital goods and technology, where South Korea is already an important supplier to the world.

By signing in October with South Korea, Guillermo Lasso’s government hopes to finalize three trade deals it has been negotiating

In parallel with the pre-signing of the trade agreement, the minister announced that the health protocol for the entry of mangoes into the Korean market has already been finalized. “We will soon formalize this document with the delivery that South Korea has to make to Ecuador, so that at the end of this year we can make the protocol official and finally start exporting mangoes to this important destination,” he said.

In addition to the export of this fruit, the head of the production portfolio also commented that they have already discussed with the Korean authorities the desire of Ecuador to start the process of opening up new products for export.

As for livestock products, there is pork for which, according to Legarda, there is a huge possibility of export to that market, and for fruits, the process of opening pitahaja will be started, which will be launched this year. export to China. “There will be an open process for that from here,” he assured.