Supporting the development of a responsible shrimp farming group in Ecuador

SONGA was set up in 1932 and is a pioneering group in the shrimp sector in Ecuador. It operates throughout virtually all the value chain (domestication, production, processing, marketing), which has overcome several major health and economic crises. SONGA is the 4th largest exporter in Ecuador. It stands out for the quality of its production and its compliance with health and environmental standards. The processing and packaging plants for all the Group’s shrimp farms are in the process of being certified ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council), which recognizes the Group’s responsible aquaculture.

The project involves financing the extension of SONGA’s processing and packaging capacity, as well as its refrigeration capacity. In a macroeconomic context which has temporarily deteriorated in Ecuador, Proparco’s first operation in Ecuador’s agro-industrial sector is playing a real countercyclical role by providing long-term financing to a local company.

The project will have significant impacts on the country’s socioeconomic development. It will, in particular, support the agro-industrial sector, which has become strategic in Ecuador due to the fall in incomes from oil, and will create a number of direct jobs (300 over the next 5 years) and indirect jobs (150 on partner fish farms over the next 5 years). The project will also contribute to public revenues for the Government of Ecuador.