In 2023, Ecuador exported products worth $31.1 billion worldwide. This represented a 12% decrease compared to 2022 when exports totaled $35.4 billion.

Ecuador's Major Trading Partners

The latest shipping data from Tendata indicates that 76.86% of Ecuador's exported products were purchased by importers from the following countries:

1. United States (33.8%, $9.42 billion)

2. China (14.63%, $4.08 billion)

3. Panama (12.42%, $3.46 billion)

4. Chile (2.72%, $0.76 billion)

5. Spain (2.62%, $0.73 billion)

6. Netherlands (2.45%, $0.68 billion)

7. Peru (2.16%, $0.6 billion)

8. United Arab Emirates (2.14%, $0.6 billion)

9. Russia (2.02%, $0.56 billion)

10. Italy (1.9%, $0.53 billion)

From a continental perspective, 27.6% of Ecuador's exports go to Asian countries, while 26.7% go to importers in Latin America. Ecuador exports an additional 25.6% of goods to North America. The proportions are smaller for Europe (18.9%), Africa (1%), and Oceania (0.2%), with New Zealand and Australia leading.

Ecuador's Top 10 Export Products

Looking at the two-digit HS codes, Ecuador's top ten export commodities accounted for 91.6% of Ecuador's total exports:

1. Mineral fuels, including petroleum: $9 billion (28.9%)

2. Fish: $7.5 billion (24.2%)

3. Fruits/nuts: $4.1 billion (13.2%)

4. Ores, slag, ash: $1.9 billion (6.2%)

5. Gems, precious metals: $1.42 billion (4.6%)

6. Meat/seafood products: $1.37 billion (4.4%)

7. Cocoa: $1.32 billion (4.2%)

8. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $1 billion (3.2%)

9. Wood: $533.5 million (1.7%)

10. Vegetable/fruit/nut products: $319.6 million (1%)

Gems and precious metals experienced the fastest growth among Ecuador's top ten export categories, increasing by 52.7% from 2022 to 2023, mainly due to gold exports. Cocoa ranked second in export sales improvement, growing by 24.2%. Ecuador's exports of fruits and nuts grew third fastest, increasing by 8%. The largest decline among Ecuador's top ten export categories was seen in mineral fuels, including petroleum, which decreased by -28.4%.

Looking at more detailed four-digit HS codes, Ecuador's most valuable export products are crude oil (25.1%). Following that is lobster, including other crustaceans (23.2%), then bananas and plantains (12.2%), gold (4.5%), processed or preserved fish and caviar (4.3%), copper ores and concentrates (4%), cocoa beans (3.8%), refined petroleum (3.6%), fresh flowers or dried flowers (3.2%), and finally precious metal ores and concentrates (2.2%).

For even finer HS codes, we can see from Tendata's report that Ecuador's top ten export products are as follows:

1. HS Code: 2709000000 (22.83%, $6,364.16 million): Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude

2. HS Code: 306171900 (21.5%, $5,994.24 million): Frozen shrimps and prawns, even smoked, whether in shell or not, including shrimps and prawns in shell, cooked by steaming or by boiling in water (excluding cold-water shrimps and prawns): Other scampi

3. HS Code: 803901190 (9.94%, $2,771.1 million)

4. HS Code: 603110000 (4.9%, $1,366.32 million): Fresh cut roses and buds, of a kind suitable for bouquets or for ornamental purposes

5. HS Code: 7108120000 (4.21%, $1,173.67 million): Gold, including gold plated with platinum, unwrought, for non-monetary purposes (excluding gold in powder form)

6. HS Code: 803901110 (3.08%, $858.46 million): Bananas including fresh cavendish valery bananas

7. HS Code: 1801001990 (2.86%, $797.21 million): Cocoa beans, whole or broken, raw or roasted: Raw: Other

8. HS Code: 2710192200 (2.83%, $787.63 million): Medium oils and preparations, of petroleum or bituminous minerals, not containing biodiesel, n.e.s.: Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude) and preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70

9. HS Code: 306171100 (2.81%, $784.2 million): Frozen shrimps and prawns, even smoked, whether in shell or not, including shrimps and prawns in shell, cooked by steaming or by boiling in water (excluding cold-water shrimps and prawns): Accelerated freeze-dried (AFD)

10. HS Code: 306179990 (1.86%, $517.84 million): Frozen shrimps and prawns, even in shell, including shrimps and prawns in shell, cooked by steaming or by boiling in water (excluding smoked and "pandalidae", "crangon", deepwater rose shrimps "parapenaeus longirostris" and shrimps of the genus "penaeus")

People who know current affairs know that customs data plays a very important role in the import and export industry, such as determining the target market, looking for overseas quality customers, avoiding transaction risks and so on are inseparable from customs data.

The following is a detailed description of these cases:

1. Determine The Target Market

When a company wants to sell its products abroad, accurate target market determination is key. The consequences of spending time and energy on developing a country where there is no need or very little demand for one's products can be serious. At this time, you can query the product through Tendata I-Discovery, analyze the import and export situation of the product in different regions of the world, and visually view the growth trend of import and export, so that you can know which countries in the world need the product the most, and then the target market can be basically determined. (>>Click to Get FREE DEMO)

2. Looking For Global Quality Buyers/Suppliers

Here to introduce you to a use of customs data to find foreign customers skills. Take the United States as an example: now use Tendata I-Discovery, in the query goods description at the same time, in the conditions of origin, enter CHINA, you can be exported to the United States of all the transaction records of the goods extracted. And then based on Tendata I-Discovery analysis report, the procurement volume of large U.S. companies extracted, which is a potential high-quality U.S. buyers.(>>Click to Get FREE DEMO)

3. Formulate Production Plan to Avoid Trade Risks

For a production enterprise, the development of its own production plan is related to the future trend of the enterprise for a period of time, Tendata I-Discovery allows you to see the real transaction records of each enterprise, as well as detailed information about the enterprise, to avoid the risk of being cheated in trade.(>>Click to Get FREE DEMO)