Ecuador’s single largest export is crude petroleum, worth $13.4 billion in 2024 and accounting for roughly 29% of the country’s total export revenue. But oil tells only part of the story. Ecuador exported $38.4 billion worth of goods in 2024, and non-petroleum products made up over 70% of that total. Shrimp, bananas, cocoa beans, processed fish, and a fast-growing mining sector round out an export economy that is more diverse than many people expect.
Crude Petroleum Leads by a Wide Margin
Oil has dominated Ecuador’s export ledger for decades, and it still does. Crude petroleum alone brought in $13.4 billion in 2024. Add refined petroleum products, which contributed another 2% of total exports, and the combined oil sector accounted for roughly 31% of everything Ecuador shipped abroad. The country pumps most of its crude from the Amazon basin in its eastern lowlands, and a significant share goes to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast and to buyers in Asia.
That level of oil dependence carries risk. When global crude prices drop, Ecuador’s government revenue and trade balance both take a hit. This vulnerability is one reason policymakers have pushed to grow non-oil exports over the past two decades, with visible results in shrimp, agriculture, and mining.
Shrimp: A $7.5 Billion Industry
Ecuador is one of the world’s largest shrimp exporters, and the numbers have grown dramatically. The country’s farmed shrimp industry closed 2025 with $7.47 billion in exports and shipped 3.07 billion pounds of product. That makes crustaceans Ecuador’s second most valuable export category, trailing only crude oil.
China is the dominant buyer, taking nearly half of Ecuador’s shrimp exports by volume in 2025 at 49.5%. Europe accounted for 21.7%, and the United States expanded its share to 19.4%. Smaller but growing markets include the rest of Asia at 5.7% and the Americas at 2.7%. Ecuador’s shrimp farms are concentrated along its Pacific coastline, particularly in the warm, low-lying provinces near the Gulf of Guayaquil, where conditions are ideal for aquaculture.
Bananas Remain a Global Staple
Ecuador is the world’s top banana exporter, and bananas were the country’s third largest export in 2024 at $4.19 billion. The country ships bananas to markets across North America, Europe, and Asia. Banana plantations cover large stretches of Ecuador’s coastal lowlands, and the industry employs hundreds of thousands of workers directly and indirectly. While bananas don’t generate the headline revenue of oil or shrimp, they provide steady, year-round income because demand for the fruit is remarkably consistent worldwide.
Cocoa Beans and Processed Fish
Cocoa beans ranked as Ecuador’s fourth largest export in 2024, bringing in $3.09 billion. Ecuador produces both “fino de aroma” cacao, a high-quality variety prized by premium chocolate makers, and the more common CCN-51 variety grown for bulk markets. Rising global cocoa prices have boosted the value of this sector significantly in recent years.
Processed fish, primarily canned tuna, rounded out the top five at $1.58 billion. Ecuador’s Pacific coast tuna fleet is one of the largest in the Eastern Pacific, and the country has built a substantial canning and processing industry around it. Much of this processed fish ends up on supermarket shelves in Europe and Latin America.
Mining Is Growing Fast
Ecuador’s mining sector is relatively young but expanding quickly. Mining exports reached roughly $3 billion in 2024, representing about 8.9% of total exports. Ecuador’s Mining Chamber expects that figure to hit $4 billion in 2025, driven by higher gold and copper prices combined with increased production. The country currently has two operating large-scale mines: one gold mine and one copper mine. Higher commodity prices and new exploration projects suggest mining will continue to claim a larger share of Ecuador’s export portfolio in the years ahead.
How Ecuador’s Export Mix Breaks Down
Putting it all together, Ecuador’s 2024 export profile looked like this:
- Crude petroleum: $13.4 billion (about 29% of total exports)
- Crustaceans (mainly shrimp): $6.36 billion
- Bananas: $4.19 billion
- Cocoa beans: $3.09 billion
- Mining (gold and copper): approximately $3 billion
- Processed fish: $1.58 billion
Total exports reached $38.4 billion, with non-oil products making up 71% of the total. That split is worth noting because it challenges the common perception of Ecuador as a purely oil-dependent economy. While petroleum is still the single biggest earner, the combination of shrimp, bananas, cocoa, fish, and mining now generates far more revenue collectively than oil does alone. Ecuador’s economy still rides on natural resources rather than manufacturing or technology, but the diversity within that resource base has grown considerably.