While the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on a number of sectors worldwide in 2021, Ecuador achieved an all-time high in shrimp exports.
According to the latest figures from Ecuador’s National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), the country passed reached USD 5.08 billion (EUR 4.56 billion) in shrimp export value, far surpassing the previous annual record set in 2020 of USD 3.6 billion (EUR 3.2 billion) in exports and more than quintupling levels seen a decade ago, when USD 993 million (EUR 891 million) in shrimp were sent abroad. In the month of December 2021 alone, USD 539 million (EUR 484 million) of shrimp were exported, up 145 percent compared to the same month in 2020.
During the year, the average price of shrimp reached USD 2.74 (EUR 2.46) per pound – an improvement from the USD 2.42 (EUR 2.17) per pound seen in 2020 but still a far cry from Ecuador’s maximum price of USD 3.75 (EUR 3.36) per pound recorded in 2014.
In volume, the country also broke its all-time high record, producing 1.86 billion pounds of shrimp, a 24 percent jump compared to the previous record in 2020 of 1.49 billion pounds.
Ecuador sent 46 percent of its production by volume, or 860 million pounds, to China, bringing in USD 2.3 billion (EUR 2.1 billion), down from 53 percent in 2020. The European Union ranked second in Ecuadorian shrimp imports by volume with 420 million pounds, bringing in USD 1.16 billion (EUR 1.05 billion). The total represented at 23 percent of Ecuador's total shrimp exports, inching up from 22 percent in 2020. In third was the U.S., increasing to 22 percent of Ecuador's exports, totaling 406 million pounds, bringing in USD 1.2 billion, (EUR 1.08 billion) – an increase from 17 percent the previous year.
Prior to the pandemic, Ecuador’s shrimp industry had mainly been oriented around the foodservice segment, but the country's National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) worked to reinvent and redesign the country's seafood industry, CNA Executive President José Antonio Camposano previously told SeafoodSource. Increasing seafood consumption in the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HORECA) sector was combined with newfound home consumption interest and growing sales at the retail level to send Ecuador's exports to their all-time high levels, he said.
Ecuador was hit with multiple bans on its companies' shrimp after finding potential instances of COVID-19 on shrimp packaging, forcing the industry to develop and reinforce its presence in other markets, including Europe and the U.S., according to Camposano.
The chamber has also been working for years to establish the sustainability and trustworthiness of its farmed shrimp industry. The CNA’s first formal exercise, initiated five years ago, was the foundation of the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP). The platform is global, but thus far the sustainability program's only certified farms are in Ecuador.
Photo courtesy of LIU ANLIN/Shutterstock
