Shrimp reached a record number of exports until October

Shrimp is the main product of non-oil exports in 2021. With the good performance registered until October, it continues to displace bananas to second place. In fact, this leadership has maintained it since 2019 when more shrimp than fruit were shipped.

In the first ten months of the year, the shrimp sector reached shipments for $ 4,174 million, 32% more compared to 2020 when $ 3,168 million were exported. The figure is also record in the history of crustacean sales abroad, since the amount reached in October is even 62% higher if what was sent in all of 2016 is taken into account.

The data of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE) reveal this behavior:

José Antonio Camposano, president of the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), points out that this behavior is due to a “rebound effect” that has been experienced since February due to the recovery in demand, especially in hotels and restaurants in China, United States and Spain, added to a higher shrimp shipment to the segment retail.

An additional factor that drove this rise was the commitment of the business sector to invest. The private investments in ripening plants, farms and processing plants also pushed the good performance. However, Camposano affirms that a challenge to overcome is the logistics issue that affects the entire export chain.

According to the head of the CNA, the figures reached will be affected in the last two months of the year and the entire first half of 2022 due to the crisis of containers and spaces to send product. Currently there are disadvantages to export between 30% and 50% of the national production.

The trade balance

Until October 2021, the total trade balance of Ecuador registered a favorable balance of $ 2,332 million. This as a result of a trade surplus of $ 3,827 million in the oil balance and a deficit of $ 1,495 million in the non-oil balance, according to data from the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE).

In ten months of the year, total exports (oil and non-oil) of the country grew 31%, compared to the same period of 2020, giving a figure of $ 21,558 million. In the same period of last year, $ 16,458 million was sent abroad.

Within the non-oil exports, the products that grew between one and two digits, in addition to shrimp, were coffee, cocoa, tuna, fish and flowers. Regarding shipments of non-traditional non-oil goods, the star product was those of the mining sector.

The Agreement with EFTA comes into effect from this November 1

The countries that most demanded Ecuadorian product

Between January and October of this year, according to the ECB, Panama It was one of the countries that most demanded goods from Ecuador. In 2021, the nation bought the country $ 3,530 million, a high figure if one takes into consideration that in 2019 $ 1,610 million was exported to that country.

Other destinations that performed well in the first ten months of the year were Canada and the member countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). With this last block, Ecuador has an agreement in force since November 1, 2020, which has allowed the exchange to increase in the last year. (I)