Ecuadorian shrimp exports to EU stable in value, while canned tuna jump

Between January and July 2017, Ecuadorian exports to the European Union (EU) rose 14.4% in value compared to the same period in 2016, according to figures from the Ecuadorian Exporters Federation (Fedexpor).

Following the implementation of the free trade agreement between Ecuador and the EU, Ecuadorian exports to the EU rose to $1.890 billion, up from $1.6bn in 2016, Fedexpor’s president Ivan Ontaneda said to local paper El Universal.

However, during the period shrimp exports rose in value only 0.2% year-on-year, while canned tuna exports rose 60%, flowers 17% and bananas 14%, according to the figures.

The jump in tuna export value can be explained by the increase in tuna prices in 2017 compared with previous years, according to Guillermo Moran, director of industry association Tunacons.

In the first seven months of this year, the Ecuadorian fleet fished 29,000 metric tons of tuna more than in 2016, Moran noted.

This increase in catches, together with better prices, has generated greater exports from Ecuador, Moran said, referring to Ecuadorian tuna exports overall.

This year tuna prices rose to $1,500-$2,300/t, up from $800-$1,600/t in 2015 and 2016.

Moran also pointed out that the value in exports from Ecuador returned to levels seen in previous years, i.e. 2013. “I do not know whether this scenario will be similar in the second half of the year because catches have been falling sharply since July,” Moran also noted, referring to the rise in exports’ value.

Shrimp

Ecuadorian shrimp exports reached a record high level in volume during the first half of 2017, according to figures from the Ecuadorian national chamber of aquaculture. 

Ecuadorian shrimp exports to the EU are expected to increase 5-7% in volume during 2017, Songa’s Rodrigo Laniado said. 

According to a large producer, additional volumes produced by Ecuador this year have been absorbed mainly by Chinese demand. Earlier this year, sources told Undercurrent that shrimp imports into the EU from other origins were also going to benefit from the free trade agreement between Ecuador and the EU, part

Each year the EU accepts a total of 40,000t of vannamei shrimp with zero tariff, under the autonomous tariff quota system. As a result of the free trade agreement with Ecuador, there would be more space to fill up the zero tariff contingent with shrimp from other origins, sources pointed out.

“Ecuadorian shrimp will be more competitive this year, we will save at least 3.6% tariff,” one large Spanish buyer said at the start of the year.

“But there is a contingent free of tariff into the EU for [vannamei] shrimp imported for cooking purposes; in this case [until the contingent is filled out] there will be no difference with the previous years comparing Ecuador with other origins.”

According to sources, those volumes with zero tariff are expected to be filled by October.

“The contingent has not yet finished. Venezuela still had a preference,” one Spanish buyer told Undercurrent on Sept. 25.

Ecuador’s shrimp production is expected to increase between 7-9% in 2017 year-on-year, Ecuadorian national chamber of aquaculture’s executive president, Jose Antonio Camposano, told Undercurrent earlier this year.

In 2016 Ecuador exported a total of 799.8 million pounds (362,808t), up 11% compared with 2015. “We are the main supplier to the EU, the most demanding market,” Camposano also noted.

Earlier this year, Ecuador started to promote its shrimp, among other products, in French supermarkets, as part of a new marketing campaign.