Omarsa Group started in the shrimp business in February 1977, when Don Arturo Vanoni Fernandez bought the first 250 hectares for shrimp farming.

China lifts temporary suspension of shrimp exports from Omarsa

ECUADOR
Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 22:50 (GMT + 9)

Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Iván Ontaneda reported that the Chinese authorities lifted the penalty they had imposed on Omarsa Group, for an alleged detection of the yellow head virus. This is one of the largest exporters of crustacean and Ecuador was able to demonstrate that this disease has not been registered in any of its shrimp production areas. Therefore, it was ‘a false positive’, as executives of the National Chamber of Aquaculture (CNA) had already advanced.

Cooked shrimp from Omarsa in three different presentations.(Photo: OMARSA)

Through his twitter account, the official said the measure is “the result of the dialogue” they had with the Chinese authorities on Monday, September 16, 2019. Ontaneda traveled to China last Saturday to lead the negotiations following the temporary suspension applied to five companies for a phytosanitary alert. At 09:00 in Beijing, technical meetings began, in which the delegates of the public and private sector of Ecuador with their Chinese counterparts participated.

“The commitment is to solve the impasses with China. We will return to the country with good news for Ecuadorians. We are the world's leading shrimp exporter for the excellence of our product,” added Ontaneda.

Negotiations are still ongoing to unlock the exports of the other four companies. Ecuador proposed to the Chinese authorities that they visit the processing plants and shrimp areas in the country to verify the safety controls that are complied with throughout the production chain.

Meanwhile, in a summary of the meetings of the CNA to its associates, it is explained that the national authorities presented all the technical argumentation that justifies that the measure adopted “is disproportionate”. China's General Customs imposed restrictions on all imports from different countries to avoid affecting its local production.

In the Omarsa case, it was clarified that the yellow head virus does not exist in Ecuador and that, from the verification carried out in the laboratory when the container returned, its presence was not evidenced, therefore, the lifting of the export restriction was requested.  The containers of this exporter that are currently traveling to China can now arrive at the Chinese ports, but they should also pass random checks.

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