Omarsa, one of the largest shrimp farmers and processors in Ecuador, is planning to add another 3,700 hectares of shrimp farms to its operations over the course of the rest of this year and next, Sandro Coglitore, company general manager told Undercurrent News.
In January of this year, it was announced that the company secured a $10 million loan from The International Finance Corporation (IFC) arm of the World Bank Group to support its plans for expansion. With the backing of the IFC, Omarsa is building a new plant, which when completed by the end of 2017, will have 70,000 tons of processing capacity compared to the company’s current capacity of between 42,000 and 43,000 tons per year.
Shrimp represent one of the top export sectors for Ecuador after oil and derivatives, accounting for 10 percent of the country’s total exports and 37 percent of its non-oil exports.
Ecuador’s shrimp exports hit a new record in 2016 on the back of record exports of 76.7 million pounds in the month of May – 16 percent over export volumes during May 2015. These elevated export volumes, which are driven by high demand from Asia, lifted Ecuador’s shrimp exports for 2016 to a record 322.3 million pounds.
Leading the Industry
Omarsa is the first in the world to receive Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification due to its employment of global best practices on its farms, processing plants and its laboratories.
“This new project demonstrates the commitment of IFC to the sustainable development of Ecuador and seeks to encourage use of the global best practices in the environmental and social areas,” said Carlos Leiria Pinto, Head of the Andean Region for the IFC.
Omarsa is currently expanding the capacity at its existing plant, which will produce individually quick frozen brine and cooked shrimp. However, the addition of its new plant will add the production of head-on products for export to China and the EU.
Referring to the country’s shrimp industry, which is expected to see a 20 percent overall jump in production to 300,000 tons, Coglitore told Undercurrent News, “Ecuador will continue to grow, there are a lot of efficiencies in Ecuadorian farms and we are expanding.”
Building on this growth potential, Ecuador is also set to join Colombia and Peru in a free trade deal with the EU that is expected to be in place by January 1, 2017, that will eliminate a potential 12 percent duty for head-on shrimp for Ecuador’s shrimp farmers, bringing the duty to zero.
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Lynda Kiernan