Ecuador’s shrimp industry has sustained solid growth over the past years, solidifying its position as the number one supplier to China, providing roughly 70 percent of the Asian giant’s imports. It has also lead as the number one supplier to Europe and, in the United States, is biting at the heels of the shrimp powerhouse of India.
That growth has been buoyed by a national strategy to fortify local operations while diversifying the offers and channels through which Ecuador sells its shrimp. Like any strategy, Ecuador uses a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis as its base upon which to grow.
José Antonio Camposano, executive president of Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) since 2011, has played an integral part in defining and implementing the country’s growth strategy. His participation in the sector’s sustained success led industry observers to recently name him one of the 50 most influential executives in the aquaculture world.
SeafoodSource spoke with Camposano regarding his SWOT analysis for Ecuador’s shrimp farming industry.
SeafoodSource: Starting with the most difficult, what would you say are some of Ecuador’s weaknesses when it comes to shrimp farming?
Camposano: Communication is always important, it is a weakness that the entire aquaculture industry has around the world. As shrimp farmers in Ecuador, we aren’t exempt from that weakness. And we are still very susceptible to news that can position a message that is simply not true.
To give a very clear example, at the beginning of the year there was negative news from the Southern Shrimp Alliance that antibiotics had been found in shrimp from India and Ecuador. That was the headline here, but if you look at 100 percent of the cases in the last decade, let’s say there have been 400 cases, 399 are from India and other Asian countries, and Ecuador is 1. So it's not shrimp from India and Ecuador. I don’t want to speak poorly of my competition; I esteem them very much because it forces us to improve every day.
We were in a meeting with the Ecuadorian authorities when that news came out. They got to work immediately and had to implement crisis management, and the law imparts sanctions if it corresponds to a particular shrimp farm.
The headline is what stays in the people’s mind, but Ecuador has really activated all the mechanisms, our same industry has asked for sanctions if called for, because we have to take great care of what is crucial for us, which is the food safety of our consumers. That's why we boast of having a clean record of antibiotics in the countries where we export. But if we had better communications as an industry, we could be more efficient. At least I read all of the news until the end, I do not stay with just the headline and with that I could determine [in this case] that it came with some malice, with the intention of affecting our image.
We have to keep working on it and very thoroughly, to better communicate what we do as an industry. In many cases of different types of protein products that are high in positive fats, such as avocado, they’ve managed to be a product that is accepted and consumed. Salmon too, which is now consumed a lot at breakfast. We have that responsibility [to similarly position shrimp] and we are going to do it with the Seafood Nutrition Partnership. We are now looking to form partnerships with nutritionists, chefs, etc., to be able to communicate our message better and for people to lose fear of this old myth that shrimp produces cholesterol.
So there is a weakness in communication. It affects the entire industry but that does not exempt Ecuador from improving; we have to be better communicators.
As a threat, we are certainly dependent on the performance of economies. We are a product that is not considered a basic need, so if the economy falls, people stop going to restaurants and that’s a channel that we lose, where we are very strong, which is food service. Because we don't really have retail, and that's a weakness too, not having a consolidated position in retail, especially in the U.S., as India has.
SeafoodSource: Which could also be an opportunity.
Camposano: Exactly, it depends on how you look at it. It is an opportunity that we have to exploit, and we certainly are working towards that. But today it is a weakness because we are still exposed to economic behavior which mainly affects food service.
The same goes for China. We have an important market, but we suffer when our main market stops buying. That's a weakness and a threat.
SeafoodSource: What are some of the strengths of Ecuador’s shrimp industry?
Camposano: We are a consolidated, mature industry, with companies that have taken leadership and have a very good reputation in the countries where we do business. Reputation, unlike the image which is not the same, is the result of behavior throughout history. Over the last 50 years, Ecuador has consolidated with a certain image, with a specific product, with an organizational and association structure. That is recognized by many and we must continue working on that reputation to continue strengthening the positioning of our industry.
We have businessmen who have adopted a proactive attitude to address problems: shrimp returns from China obeying to [Covid-19] protocol, okay, how do we work within the protocol so that China feels calm and has fewer problems; the retail opportunity opens up in the United States, okay let’s invest to produce more tails and more added value for the U.S.; China starts to ramp up purchases again, okay, let’s go there again as soon as the borders open; and let's attend to the European market accordingly. There's that versatility in Ecuador’s shrimp industry.
Photo courtesy of Ecuador's National Chamber of Aquaculture
