GUAYAQUIL, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Ecuadorean shrimp exports rose 20% year-on-year in 2025 to $8.4 billion, a record driven by a temporary boost from higher U.S. tariffs and steady sector investment in recent years, the head of the aquaculture industry association said.
Last year’s level of revenue made shrimp Ecuador’s top export, overtaking oil in the country long focused on crude. In 2024, shrimp sales totaled about $7 billion, according to the government.
Tariffs imposed on India, the United States’ biggest shrimp supplier, by the Trump administration helped boost Ecuador’s sales, as it faced a lower tariff rate, said Jose Antonio Camposano, president of Ecuador’s Aquaculture Chamber.
“It was a marginal effect because it only impacted the United States,” Camposano said in an interview over the weekend. “We’ll have to see what happens this year with the new tariffs that are imposed.”
Trump said early this month he had reached a trade deal with India that sharply cuts U.S. tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for New Delhi easing trade barriers and halting purchases of Russian oil, shifting them to the United States and potentially to Venezuela.
Camposano said China remains Ecuador’s main shrimp market, buying around 48% of its output. The sector is also working to maintain sales to the United States and the European Union and is expanding in Japan.
“The United States has grown significantly, currently buying 22% or 23% in recent years, and that is because the sector invested to produce value‑added products,” he said.
Still, exporters remain cautious about external factors this year. Camposano said the industry aims to hold export volumes steady and, if possible, achieve growth of some 5% in 2026.
“Market behavior varies depending on several factors: our competitors, who are very aggressive, and the ongoing tariff issue under President Trump, which creates some uncertainty in the United States,” he added.
Output in Ecuador’s oil sector has fallen due to lack of investment and other external factors, with oil exports falling 19% to $7.18 billion between January and November last year. Non‑oil exports have been growing steadily since 2023 and last year they reached $29.4 billion, up 18.3% from a year earlier, according to government figures.
(Reporting by Yury Garcia, Writing by Alexandra Valencia and Nick Zieminski)
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