Cultivo y Exportación Acuícola Ceaexport S.A.

What it is

Ceaexport was incorporated on 10 June 2013, making it one of Ecuador’s younger listed shrimp companies. Its official economic activity code is G4630.32 — wholesale trade of shrimp and prawns — though it also bags and processes product at its own packing facility.

The company describes itself as a shrimp exporting business and “your direct connection to the finest shrimp from Ecuador.” Customs shipment records show it regularly dispatches frozen crustaceans for human consumption from the port of Guayaquil, with China among its primary destinations.

Who owns it

Not published: the Superintendencia de Compañías, Valores y Seguros (SCVS) shareholder portal requires a JavaScript-enabled login session that is not accessible to automated retrieval, and the BVG issuer page for code R.Z4 returned no ownership data. EMIS, which sources its data from the SCVS, shows that at least one shareholder holds a 25% stake, with all other names and percentages behind a paywall.

Ecuador’s Ley de Mercado de Valores (Art. 11) requires listed companies to disclose controlling shareholders to the regulator, but that registry is not in open digital form for this issuer.

Who runs it

The legal representative recorded with Ecuador’s Ministry of Production is Eduardo José Andrade Arteaga, who also signed the 2016 annual management report to shareholders as Gerente General (CEO). Whether he remains in post in 2025 is not confirmed in open sources published after 2017; the SCVS portal login is required to verify the current board.

The shareholder meeting that approved the 2016 financial statements was held on 12 February 2017, as required under Art. 238 of Ecuador’s Ley de Compañías.

The money, in plain words

The most recent fully open audited figures date from FY 2016: the company brought in $7.42 million in total sales that year, with shrimp exports accounting for $6.19 million of that — about 83 cents of every dollar of revenue came from selling shrimp abroad (our calculation). It kept $158,030 as profit after all costs, a net profit margin of roughly 2.1% (our calculation) — thin but typical for a trading and packing operation that was still ramping up.

By 2024 the company employed 504 people, but revenue dropped 17.93% year-on-year, total assets grew 18.14%, and the net profit margin slipped by 0.52 percentage points — a pattern suggesting the firm expanded its asset base even as falling shrimp prices squeezed what it earned per dollar of sales. Absolute 2024 revenue and profit figures are held in the SCVS database but are not published openly; they require either a paid aggregator subscription or an authenticated SCVS portal session.

Not published: the SCVS financial-statements portal (appscvssoc.supercias.gob.ec) and the BVG issuer filings page (bolsadevaloresguayaquil.com, code R.Z4) were both accessed; the former requires a registered-user login and the latter returned only navigation HTML with no financial tables. Under SCVS Resolution No. SC.SG.DRS.G.12.003 (12 March 2012), companies subject to SCVS supervision must file audited statements annually, but public digital access to those statements is gated behind the authenticated portal.

What it is doing now

Ecuador’s shrimp export industry — of which Ceaexport is a part — saw export values fall for the second consecutive year in 2024, dropping to $6.1 billion nationally, as low international prices weighed on the sector. The industry rebounded sharply in 2025, with Ecuador’s total farmed-shrimp exports reaching $7.47 billion, up 23.2% from 2024.

The vast majority of Ecuador’s shrimp goes to three markets — China, Europe and the United States — which together took 90.5% of exports by volume in 2025, with China alone absorbing nearly half. Ceaexport’s own share of any market-level rebound is not separately disclosed in open sources.

What to watch

• Price recovery vs. cost base. After two years of lower global shrimp prices that hit Ceaexport’s margin in 2024, the 2025 sector rebound is the key test of whether the company’s expanded asset base pays off.
• China concentration risk. Ecuador’s shrimp shipments to China fell 13.9% by value in 2024; any further softness in Chinese demand hits small exporters like Ceaexport harder than diversified giants.
• Governance transparency. Ownership structure, current board composition and audited financials for 2020–2024 are not available in open digital form. Investors who need them must apply directly to the SCVS or purchase a commercial data report.
• US tariff tailwind. Ecuador faces lower US import tariffs on shrimp than rivals such as India and Vietnam, a structural advantage that — if it holds — could help Ceaexport grow its North American book.

This is news, not investment advice.