Ecuador is the world's largest producer of shrimp, according to Aquaculture magazine

The specialized magazine published the 'ranking' of producers on a world scale in which China and Vietnam are also found.

Ecuador is the first country to producea million tons of shrimp, pointed out the specialized magazineAquaculture. This would make it the world's largest producer ofshrimp.

In therankingpublished by the magazine it is detailed thatEcuador leads the list of the largest shrimp producers in 2021, followed by China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, South America, Mexico, Central America, the United States and Europe.

growth was in the order of 20% in dollars and 8% in volume, compared to 2020. Until December, this segment managed to place $18,091 million in different destinations worldwide.President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso,Through a chat with the media, he applauded the recognition and reiterated that “this is a reason to congratulate all shrimp businessmen; his effort, his dedication and his fighting spirit has allowed this achievement”.

Lasso recalled that in 1998, the white spot threatened to make this activity disappear. “The resilience and dedication of entrepreneursallowed the survival of an activity that generates more than $5,000 million in exports”.

For José Antonio Camposano, President of the Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA), although the news highlights the world leadership of the Ecuadorian shrimp sector, these figures must be taken with caution, since there are certain discrepancies with the official reports of several countries.

Despite this, he stresses that, in the case of Ecuador, it is worth making points. First, it explains thatthe current production volume responds to a long process of adjustment of the production system, especially, through improvements in nutrition, management and technification of crops. "This without affecting the delicate balance with the surrounding ecosystem and maintaining the high quality characteristic of Ecuadorian shrimp," says the union leader. Sign up for the Pocket Economy newsletter

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According to union data,between January and November 2021, the shrimp sector reached shipments of $4,539 million, 34% more compared to 2020 when $3,391 million were exported.

The amount of shrimp exported is equivalent to 1,669 million pounds, 20% more than 2020 when it reached 1,395 million pounds.

The figure reached in 2021, both in volume and in dollars, is one of the highest in the last five years. Until 2017, Ecuador had exported $2,584 million and 846 million pounds of the crustacean.

With this performance, the shrimp became themost important non-oil productwithin the traditional country basket, followed by bananas.

The CNA stresses that all this good performance is due to the investments made in the last three years by the industry. The reconfiguration of the industry to export much more to the United States, changing the type of product offered (more tail, less whole shrimp).

In addition, the element of productive chain since, in the last two years, more10,000 direct employment positions.

Bananas, on the other hand, suffered a drop in their shipments until November. According to data from theBanana Marketing and Export Association(Acorbanec), the sector exported 345.20 million boxes, between January and November, 0.85% less than what was sold in the same period of 2020.

The drop in fruit shipments is due to a decrease in boxes placed in destinations such as Russia, the Middle East, East Asia, the United Kingdom, Oceania, EFTA and Canada.