"Ecuador: "Our mangoes may enter the UAE"

The initiative of a local producer, PIVANO SA, has opened a new market in the Asian territory for Ecuadorian mangoes. In January, the General Coordination of Plant Protection of the Ecuadorian Agency for Agricultural Quality Assurance, received an official document from the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment indicating that there were no restrictions on fresh mango imports and that exporters only required a phytosanitary certificate to conduct them. As a result, Ecuador will be able to export mangoes to the UAE from this date. 

Patricio Almeida, General Coordinator of Plant Health, said that the "country's diversification of markets was a policy built by the public and private sector efforts. Thus, it isn't strange that Ecuador looks for new markets, such as the Middle East. AGROCALIDAD provides support so that producers comply with phytosanitary requirements to import and export products, a process that normally begins with the interest of the different export sectors."

The development of a new market, such as the UAE, is a process that usually takes time. However, Ecuador hasn't experienced any unexpected difficulties opening said market so far.

"Our counterparts have answered communications in a satisfactory manner for domestic exporters. There are trade differences in consumption, customs, population etc., but we, as an institution, focus on verifying that our producers comply with the phytosanitary requirements of importing countries to maintain the trade flow with them," the spokesman said.

One of the obstacles that exporters face in this market, and that they have to overcome in the short term, is the competition with other experienced producers. "The Ecuadorian mango is a very desired product in several countries and there is an evident, growing demand for this product. There's no doubt that India is a major producer of mangoes and they probably supply the Arab Emirates. The entities in charge of promoting the country's exports continue to work and focus their efforts on markets that already have phytosanitary requirements, and this destination will be included among them," Almeida said. 

"There have been no shipments so far, as the opening of this market coincided with the final stage of mango exports, which goes from August to February. But this opening is very conducive to start talks between exporters and importers. We believe we could make our first shipments in the next campaign," the representative concluded. 

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