Week Ending September 28th, 2014
Source: Cuenca High Life, published Sept.8th, 2014
The government’s plan to wean consumers from subsidized LP
gas appears to be faltering.
When President Rafael Correa announced last year that gas
subsidies would end, he said the government estimated that 3.5 million households
would change to electric cooktops by early 2016. The government spends about
$600 million a year on the subsidy.
As an incentive to change, the government announced it would
offer financing on the purchase of new cooktops to replace gas cookers and would
provide a limited reduction in electric costs.
Since then, however, the government has twice pushed back
the date to end the gas subsidy, which is now set for early 2017. In addition,
the financing incentive for electric cooktops has been used by less than 20% of
those expected to take up the government’s offer.
Another problem is that Ecuadorian companies expected to
manufacture the new electric cooktops are months behind schedule. Ecuador’
Ministry of Electricity says that only two of the 10 companies expected to be
in production by last month are producing cooktops.
At least one political analyst says a new problem is
emerging: politics. University of San Francisco political science professor
Carlos Ruiz says the delays are pushing the end of gas subsidies close to the
next round of national elections. “This could be bad for Alianza Pais and
President Correa if it comes close to the election,” he says. “A political
opponent could make an issue of it in the election and I think it would play
well with many voters.”
Cuenca electrician Jaime Ramoz says requests for
installation of 220v electric service, necessary for use of electric cooktops,
have picked up but not by the amount the government predicted. “The electric
company says that 100 new 220v meters are being installed every day but about
half of these have nothing to do with the government’s plan. Some homeowners
were already changing to 220v to run other appliances,” he says.
Cuenca utility company Centrosur has
set a goal of changing 80,000 meters a year in preparation of the change-over but
so far the number is running about 70% below that. Centrosur says it needs to
change 320,000 meters by mid-2016 to meet government expectations.
The low numbers in Cuenca mirror
those in other areas of the country.
“The number of conversions will be
well below what the government predicts,” says Ramoz. He says that even
homeowners who do not mind switching to electric cooking are holding back
because of confusion about the plan. “They keep changing the rules so no one is
sure what will happen. No one even knows if electricity will even be cheaper
than subsidized gas. Everyone is waiting to see what happens.”
On the other hand, says Ramoz, many
people prefer to cook with gas. “They will stay with gas even it costs more.
It’s familiar to them and they already have the equipment.
Week Ending August 24th, 2014
Ecuador shrimp production and sales surging, up 31% in July vs. year ago
Ecuadorian shrimp exporters capitalized on a banner summer production season this year with shipments to major markets through July at record totals. In the US, Ecuadorian volumes were also at record levels-- particularly for smaller sized shrimp; but the overall share of Ecuador’s shrimp going to the US is down.
But while the Ecuadorians are producing and sending more shrimp the US
market than ever before, the US market share from Ecuador is down in
2014...
Source: Seafood News.com
Week Ending August 10th, 2014
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Progress on the Salinas Pier
Photos courtesy of Joel Regnery
Week Ending July 27th, 2014
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