Previous Story
Ecuadorian cocoa is already exported with sectoral brand
Posted On 26 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
Earlier this year the Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, Pablo Campana, announced six sectoral brands that would boost the main national export products: cocoa, bananas, shrimp, fish, flowers and toquilla straw hats.
Of those only two were launched: Cacao Ecuador Premiun & Sustainable in August and Banano Ecuador Premium & Sustainable in October.
The coordinator of Trademarks and Denominations of Origin of the Ministry, Claudia Ugarte, points out that the rest of the brands: shrimp, flowers, fishing and hats will be presented next year and that the process for the wood, coffee, tagua and Superfoods from Ecuador, from this last the stamp is ready.
The sectors of cacao, tuna, banana, flowers and shrimp were selected, because they represent 75% of the country’s non-oil and mining exports; and the toquilla straw hat for having been declared by Unesco as a cultural intangible heritage of humanity.
Campana says that the brand is part of the strategy to refresh the image of the country abroad. For products to be recognized by the certification of good manufacturing practices, traceability, respect for the environment and labor legislation, such as the non-employment of minors. “We hope that when we export with this brand our products will be recognized with a higher price, which means more income for Ecuador.”
Cocoa already exports under its brand. The National Association of Cocoa Exporters (Anecacao) reports that from August to November, ten companies have exported about 27,504 tons with that seal.
The sectoral brand is a long process in which we give the buyers this market advantage. Little by little, it is introduced “, Francisco Miranda, president of Anecacao
The president of Anecacao, Francisco Miranda, recognizes that a little marketing campaign is missing to show the advantages to the consumer and to be able to differentiate the product.
Ugarte explains that each company manages a budget and inventory plan in purchases of packaging, packaging and labels. “The schedule for the product to be exported with the brand, in an implementation process, which will vary according to the company.”
The president of the Association of Banana Exporters, Eduardo Ledesma, indicates that banana is still not exported with the sectoral brand and that the process could take between three and six months: “With the brand origin country I do not think (they) have left still outside, because the process is not finished, they are long processes, that governance has to be established, who is going to do the supervision, that is in process “.
This year, he adds, exports of fruit would exceed 330 million boxes, between 3% and 5% more than in 2017.
How are products selected to have these brands?
Ugarte explains that the products must belong to a mature export sector, with a high level of associativity and representativeness; have a strategy to position it internationally, be competitive, generate foreign exchange and employment and include small, medium and large players within the entire value chain.
As an expectation for next year, Ugarte indicates that it is planned to launch the brands in the framework of the most important international sectoral events in the world.
She adds that the Cacao Ecuador Premium & Sustainable brand seeks to implement, together with the exporting guild, a campaign for global brands of fine chocolate to develop their products based on certified Ecuadorian cocoa and present them in the main supermarkets, houses and specialized chocolate shops fine wines from Europe and the United States.
Other countries
In the region there are similar cases of sectoral brands, for example, in Chile there is experience with brands: Chile Olive Oil, Salmon de Chile, Wine of Chile. TexModa in Brazil, Alpaca in Peru, Logistics in Uruguay, Carne de Argentina, among others. (I)
