Ecuador: Ecuador's Tuna Fish Industry Update
Ecuador’s tuna fishery in 2015 is staring at lower prices. Prices are suffering due to oversupply, reportedly driven by overfishing, at a time of weakening demand for tuna and tuna products both in the United States and Europe. Ecuador with $1.4 billion in calendar year (CY) 2014 (January-November) exports, according to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) only trails Thailand and Spain as the world’s third largest producer of tuna and tuna products. Exports to the United States of unprocessed fresh/frozen tuna alone reached $118 million in CY 2014. Ecuador processes 500,000 metric tons (MT) of tuna annually (i.e., yellow fin, black skipjack, and bigeye tuna). Despite a drop in prices, but wishing to maintain their market share, Ecuador’s fishing fleet and processors have not scaled back operations. The sector employees 25,000 people.
