On February 8, an Ecuadorian food festival was held in Guangzhou. Over 30 guests attended the event to taste dishes made with ingredients from Ecuador, including coffee, shrimp, cod, bananas, butterfish, and chocolate.
During the event, Tang Ge, owner of Art & Fos Café at Guangdong Museum shared that he once traveled to Ecuador in 2016 in search of high-quality supply of coffee beans. After careful selection, he cherry-picked a bean from the Maputo Estate. When he returned to Ecuador in 2018, he found the Maputo coffee beans have already become the country's best of its kind. Now people can enjoy authentic Ecuadorian coffee right here in downtown Guangzhou without travelling far.
"After the signing of China-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the volume of Ecuadorian exports to China will increase. Ecuador will export more tropical fruits to China and import more cars and electronic products, such as mobile phones, from China," Edwin Asdrubal Martinez Bedon, Consul Genral of Ecuador in Guangzhou said in an interview with GDToday. "The agreement will result in very convenient terms of trade for both sides."
On February 10, 2022, China's Ministry of Commerce announced at a press conference that China and Ecuador have officially launched the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement. On January 4 this year, Mao Ning, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the negotiation of the FTA between China and Ecuador is progressing smoothly.
China is Ecuador's largest export destination. Data from the Pro Ecuador show that Ecuador shrimp exports to China in 2022 added to USD3,400 million and more than 490,000 metric tons, placing China as the TOP 1 consuming country for the Ecuadorian vannamei shrimp. As of October 2022, Ecuador's banana exports to China amounted to USD 87.2 million, frozen fish exports totaled USD11.9 million, and cocoa beans and cocoa products exports amounted to USD 13.1 million.
The event was organized by Pro Ecuador, the official institution charged with promoting exports and investments, to introduce Ecuadorean products to local company and media representatives.
Reporter: Monica, Ariel
Editor: Wing, Steven, Jerry
Photo provided to GDToday
