The import of machinery and supplies and the export of wood, bananas, broccoli and cocoa, among the most affected by the higher freight prices.
Ecuador imported $ 10,145 million in inputs for local production in 2020, 18% less than in 2019. The reduction shows that there was less maritime transport, a route used to mobilize 80% of the world’s merchandise, due to the confinement, which implied a momentary brake on world production in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The entry of the new cars of 2022 takes longer than normal due to the crisis of maritime transport
The stoppage caused the containers are stranded and the sites with demand to send supplies and products because they were left without themespecially in Asia.
The consequence is the increase in the logistics cost to bring imports and send non-oil exports that the country makes.
China is the main supplier of non-oil imports from Ecuador with a 23% share, followed by the United States, from which 17% of the total imports are purchased.
The logistics costs of total imports from countries other than China and South Korea increased by 36% between January and August of this year compared to the same period in 2020, but the price of bringing from China rose 187% and from South Korea, 273%, according to Francisco Jarrín, president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Industries.
The percentages increase depending on the product. The value of transporting Chinese televisions to Ecuador rose 483% between January and August of this year compared to the same period in 2020; motorcycles, 364%; tires, 550%; motor vehicles, 291%; herbicides, 253%; LED lamps, 499%.
“On At the present time, it is very difficult to pass these costs on to the consumer, especially since the purchasing power of the majority of the population has not significantly improved throughout the year., a situation that has even defined that during this year companies compete mainly for prices, either through promotions, or direct lower prices ”, says Jarrín.
For now, he adds, “The trend on the part of companies and businesses has been to assume the new costs, this cannot be maintained indefinitely, so it is necessary to consider the problems that could arise in the coming months ”.
Exports are also affected by the higher logistics cost of freight.
Xavier Rosero, vice president of the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), assures that the consequences will be more evident in this last quarter of the year. “The agricultural export sector is practically stagnant. And in imports of machinery (capital goods) we are below due first to the fact that the economy has not yet recovered to an important level for companies to invest, and second, because the impact of the overflowing shipping rates is already beginning to be seen”.
From January to August of this year 10% less foreign exchange was obtained for banana exports, 26% less for wood exports, 4% less for broccoli and 0.2% less for cocoa exports compared to the same period of 2020, goods that are shipped by sea to distant destinations, making transportation difficult.
Today it is more difficult to reach Russia, the European Union bloc and China, Japan or India, on the Asian continent. Fedexport is preparing a study on the impact of the maritime transport crisis on exports, which will be presented in the coming weeks.
The container crisis, adds Rosero, it is most visible between September and October when most of the Christmas items that arrive in the country are shipped. “These products will be more expensive and there will be a clearer reduction in imports.”
Machinery imports (capital goods) totaled $ 3,216 million from January to August of this year, still below the pre-pandemic level when $ 3,698 million were brought in in the same period of 2019. The same with the import of consumer goods that added $ 3,219 million this year. In 2019, $ 3,221 million in final products were purchased.
But the decrease will be observed more in volume transported. What happens is that When there was no problem of the lack of containers with $ 100, two machines were brought (hypothetical example), but with inflated prices, only one with the same value will arrivesays Rosero.
Pablo Jiménez, vice president of the Chamber of Industries and Productivity, affirms that the problem responds to the fact that the containers are not where they should be. “A lot of cargo left China, but the containers no longer returned to that country, which increased freight drastically.”
The brought from a container from China to Ecuador cost up to $ 2,000 before the pandemic, but now there are cases in which its price reaches $ 12,000, maintains Jiménez, which increases the cost of production. This also has an impact on the payment of fees, the calculation of which is made based on the CIF price (cost of insurance merchandise and freight).
The blockade of the Suez Canal, in Egypt, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean, last March due to the grounding of an international ship also disrupted the normal movement of maritime trade, says Vice Admiral Milton Lalama, executive director of the Chamber Maritime of Ecuador.
This produced “the closure of ports, production centers, congestion of ships and consequently of ports, delays in itineraries, reduction of spaces and lack of containers, which caused the disruption of the logistics chain.”
Gasoline is the one that has risen the most in price in the last year
The five products with the highest increases until last September are high-octane gasoline with accumulated inflation of 37%, vegetable oil (+ 35%), ecological and low-octane gasoline (+ 35%) and diesel (+ 27%).
There are also increases in tires (+ 8%), paint (+ 7%), exercise machines (+ 7%), pots (+ 6%), gel and hair fixative (+ 6%), whiskey (+ 6%). ), mattresses (+ 5%), fans (+ 5%), motorcycles (+ 4%), sound players (+ 4%), water pumps (+ 3%), desktop computers (+ 3%) , informs the Chamber of Industries of Guayaquil (CIG) based on the inflation report of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
most of increments, according to the official figures body, they are single digits and in certain articles.
The rise in the logistics cost of foreign trade occurred in different magnitudes according to the group of imported products, reports the CIG. China’s imports of raw materials (productive inputs) rose 215% compared to 2020; in machinery (capital goods), the increase is 230% and in consumer goods (finished products), 163%.
The increase was gradual. “As of January of this year, the increase in logistics cost, in general terms, for imports from China was 67%, in June it was 128%, in July it was 423% and in August it was 455%”, Jarrín says. (I)
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