Ecuador

Ecuador has one feature that makes it unusually straightforward among South American markets: it uses the United States dollar as its currency. There is no exchange risk, no parallel rate and no FX allocation queue, which removes the single biggest friction that affects Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela. EMM quotes Ecuadorian buyers in dollars and the figure means what it says. Cargo lands at Guayaquil, the deep-water terminal at Posorja, or Manta.

Shrimp, bananas, cocoa, flowers

Farmed shrimp is now Ecuador's largest non-oil export and the industry is world-leading - the processing and packing plants around Guayaquil, Machala and Duran buy classifying and grading lines, peeling and deveining machines, cookers, individually-quick-frozen tunnels, plate freezers, cold stores, glazing, weighing and packing equipment, plus hatchery and farm aeration, pumping and feeding systems. Bananas, where Ecuador is the largest exporter in the world, buy washing, de-handing, grading, cluster packing, cable systems and controlled-atmosphere cold chain. Cocoa, and the fine-flavour Nacional variety in particular, takes fermentation, drying, winnowing, roasting, grinding and chocolate plant, with a real move into finished product rather than bean export. Cut flowers at altitude around Cayambe and Tabacundo buy cold rooms, vacuum coolers, grading and greenhouse equipment. Oil in the Oriente, tuna processing at Manta - one of the largest tuna ports anywhere - palm oil, and construction materials complete it.

Technical and regulatory notes

Ecuador applies INEN technical regulations with mandatory conformity certification for products in scope, and we establish the route at enquiry. Plants here run 480 V three phase, 60 Hz, with 120 V single phase alongside, which is the North American pattern. The coast is humid tropical, the sierra sits between 2,200 and 2,900 m needing altitude derating, and the country is seismically active with real volcanic exposure, so anchoring specifications matter. Spanish documentation throughout.

Confirm 60 Hz and tell us whether the plant is on the coast or in the sierra. Those answers set the specification.