China EXIM Bank loans $250 million for induction cookers

In August 2013, Ecuador launched a major induction stove program (PEC) to reduce the demand of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The initial plan of Ecuadorian authorities was to import a million Chinese-produced induction stoves, including those from Chinese manufacturers Maier and Midea, funded by a US$250 million loan from China EXIM Bank. The Ecuadorian government purchased 20,000 cookers in total from Haier through one contract, and awarded separate deals for 10,000 and 312,000 cookers to Midea. Out of the 342,000 purchased by the Ecuadorian government through three separate contracts, 1,000 arrived in Ecuador in May 2015. Local induction stove manufacturers were upset about the introduction of low-cost Chinese stoves, including some off the record accusations of Chinese products being of "inferior" quality. Pablo Zambrano, manager of the Efficient Cooking Program, stated that they will not import more stoves from China, and that they did not use the Exim bank loan to finance the stoves already purchased, which cost approximately USD $20 million. A 40% payment was already canceled and the difference is being liquidated with resources from the state budget. According to news report, Ecuador President announced on August 27, 2016 that the government will stop importing Chinese induction cookers and said that if applicable, imports may resume in the future. The loan was not included as a line item in the list of credit contracts published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in December 2016, and it is not clear if any disbursements from the loan were made. Project coded as suspended for now.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

8