Spain Exported Goods For 22.52 Billion Euros In January

According to official trade data, Spanish goods exports fell by 1.3% in January on the same month last year, to 22.52 billion euros, the second highest figure for the month in the historical series after January 2018.

Imports increased by 0.9% to 27.01 billion, the highest ever for the month. As a result, the trade deficit grew by 13.9% year-on-year in January to 4.48 billion euros.

The coverage rate (exports over imports) stood at 83.4% (85.3% in January 2018). In terms of volume, exports fell by 2.2%, as prices, using the Unit Value Indices, grew by 0.8% and exports grew by 1.1%, while prices fell by 0.2%.

The non-energy balance posted a deficit of 1.88 billion euros (versus a deficit of 1.12 billion euros in January 2018); while the energy deficit fell by 7.4% to 2.6 billion euros (compared with a deficit of 2.81 billion in 2018).

In January Spanish exports fell by 1.3%. UK exports also fell (down 1.7%), while exports increased in Germany (up 1.7%), Italy (up 2.9%) and France (up 5.2%), as well as the European Union as a whole (up 2.2%) and the Eurozone (up 2.4%). Outside the EU, exports grew in China (up 8.5%) and fell in Japan (down 8.4%). Data from the US are not available.

Among the main sectors exports of capital goods (accounting for 19.7% of the total) grew by 8.6%; and food, drink and tobacco (17.8% of the total) by 4.6%; while the automotive sector (15.5% of the total) fell by 4.6%, mainly due to lower sales to the Turkish and German markets. Also of note is the reduction of exports of energy products (5.7% of the total), which fell by 22.8%, affected by lower oil prices.

Imports also increased in the following sectors: capital goods (21.0% of the total), which rose year-on-year by 13.5%; chemical products (15.2% of the total), up 2.0%; and automotive (12.7% of the total), up 1.1%. In contrast, imports of energy products (14.4% of the total) fell by 13.2% year-on-year.

Exports to the European Union (67.3% of the total) fell by 2.3% in January. Sales to the Eurozone (52.2% of the total) fell by 3.1% and those to the rest of the European Union (15.1% of the total) grew by 0.7%.

Sales to non-EU countries (32.7% of the total) grew by 0.7% in the month, with exports increasing to Africa (up 12.8%), North America (up 5.0%) and Asia, excluding the Middle East (up 3.0%). In contrast, exports to Oceania (down 15.9%), the Middle East (down 9.3%) and Latin America (down 4.8%) all declined. By country, there were notable increases in exports to Canada (up 30.2%), Peru (up 27.8%), Egypt (up 24.9%), South Korea (up 23%) and the United States (up 1.9%); while exports fell significantly to Argentina (down 41.4%), Australia (down 16%), Brazil (down 11.2%), China (down 6.6%) and Japan (down 4.2%).

The autonomous regions posting strongest export growth were Cantabria (up 34.3%), Asturias (up 20.2%) and the Region of Navarre (up 19.8%). The biggest falls were posted by Galicia (down 26.2%), the Balearic Islands (down 18.8%) and the Canary Islands (down 12.5%).