Mexican officials said that a large number of Ecuadorian shrimp through the Guatemalan border into Mexico, the local industry has a serious impact on the projected losses in 2023 amounted to more than 5 billion Mexican pesos (236 million U.S. dollars).

In an interview with local media, Juan Carlos Patron, president of the Fisheries Commission of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, said the illegal trade in Ecuadorian shrimp has had a far-reaching impact on various sectors in the country, not only affecting fishermen along the Pacific coast, but also hitting multiple links in the supply chain. He called on the customs department to take strict measures until the illegal entry of Ecuadorian shrimp.

In Mexico, each kilogram of white shrimp costs about 150 Mexican pesos to produce, while the price of Ecuadorian shrimp is at 80 Mexican pesos, a clear price difference that puts Mexican fishermen and farmers at a great competitive disadvantage.

Allegedly, Suchiate II (Suchiate II) border is one of the illegal channels for shrimp into Mexico, due to the plummeting prices, the Mexican shrimp industry is in a serious crisis, the export price is almost the same as the cost of domestic farming.

In December, a Mexican federal court ordered a total ban on Ecuadorian shrimp imports to protect the local industry. Federal Judge Jose Francisco Perez called the illegal entry of Ecuadorian shrimp an unfair practice that significantly lowered the price set by domestic producers.

In addition, evidence showed that the federal government had seized large quantities of smuggled Ecuadorian shrimp, and that the offence had infiltrated Mexico's northern and southern borders. Much of this illegal product is suspected to have come from countries that are not part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and the Ecuadorian shrimp was smuggled into the country with stickers of origin from those countries.

In addition, these illegal shrimp pose a significant risk to Mexico's domestic industry, particularly with regard to the potential introduction of farmed pathogens such as the Peachylla Syndrome Virus (PSV) and the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV).

The tribunal required the authorities to close all channels of trade in shrimp commodities by air, land and sea, and to prevent the illegal entry of Ecuadorian shrimp through FTAs with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Mexican authorities must immediately initiate a review process of origin inspection and safety and health standards, certify legal farms and prevent Ecuadorian shrimp from being labelled as originating in other countries.