Foreign trade report for January-May 2017

Exports grew by 10.9% to May and continue at historic highs

2017.7.21

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As a result the trade deficit for the first five months of the year stood at 9.83 billion euros, 50.7% more than the previous year. Nevertheless it is the third best balance for this period since 1999. Spanish exports outperformed the Eurozone and the European Union.

The coverage rate - exports over imports - stood at 92.2% (94.2% in January-May 2016). It is the third best result ever, only beaten by 2013 and 2016.

In volume terms, exports grew by 10.1%, since prices measured by Unit Value Indices (UVIs) increased by 0.8%, and imports increased by 6% due to prices rising by 6.9%.

The non-energy balance posted surplus of 89 million euros (versus a surplus of 133 million euros for the cumulative figure in May 2016), while the energy deficit grew by 49.1%, to 9.92 billion euros (compared to a 6.65 billion deficit in 2016).

Spanish export growth was stronger than that of our main neighbouring countries: in the Eurozone as a whole exports grew by 8.6% and in the EU by 8.7%. Exports from France (3.6%) Germany (7.2%) and Italy (8.0%) also grew to a lesser extent. Only the United Kingdom's exports (19%) performed better. Sales abroad from China (4.5%), USA (6.8%), and Japan (9.4%) also grew but not as much as in Spain,

Economic sectors

The most important sectors all posted export growth. Capital goods (accounting for 19.8% of the total) increased by 10.2%; the automotive sector (17.1% of the total) grew by 0.9%, and food, drinks and tobacco (17.1% of the total) grew by 9.8%.

With regard to imports, the consolidation of the recovery of the economy and stronger growth than our partners explains the increase in most sectors. Thus, capital goods (21.1% of the total) increased by 11.9% year-on-year; the automotive sector (13.4% of the total) grew by 2.1%; consumer manufactures by 4.8%, and the food, drink and tobacco sector by 8.8%.

Geographic areas

Exports to the European Union (66.5% of the total) rose by 10.3% in the first five months of the year. Sales to the Eurozone (52% of the total) grew by 10.8%, and exports to the rest of the EU (14.5% of the total) increased by 8.5%.

The economic recovery experienced by emerging countries caused exports to third countries (33.5% of the total) to grow by 12.3% in this period, with increases in all regions: North America (13.5%), Latin America (13.2%), Africa (9%) and Oceania (11.5%). Exports only shrank to the Middle East (-0.1%) due to falling sales to Saudi Arabia (-11.2%).

Sales to markets with great potential such as China (28.1%), Canada (23.5%), Morocco (18%), Mexico (16.6%) and USA (12.2%) all increased substantially.

The autonomous regions with the best export growth were the Balearics (131.8%), the Canary Islands (42.8%) and Asturias (29.1%). Only two regions closed the period in negative figures: Castile and Leon (-3%) and Navarre (-2%).

May's figures

Pool MoncloaIn May exports grew by 15.2% over the same month 2016 to 25.36 billion euros. This is the second best result in the historical series, only behind March this year. Meanwhile imports in May 2017 grew by 16.7% to 26.79 billion euros. Consequently, there was trade deficit of 1.43 billion euros, 52.1% more than in May 2016. The coverage rate stood at 94.7%, 1.2 percentage points less than the previous year.

The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 109 million euros (versus a surplus of 322 million euros in May 2016) and the energy deficit grew by 21.9%.

Economic sectors

Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de CooperaciónIn May, the main contributions to export growth came from the capital goods sector (which contributed 4.3 points), energy products (2.7 points), chemical products (2 points) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (1.6 points).

The only sector with a negative contribution was other goods (-0.1 points).

Geographic areas

Last May exports to the European Union accounted for 66.3% of the total (65.7% in May 2016), with an increase of 16.2%. Exports to the Eurozone grew by 15.9% and those to the rest of the EU increased by 17.5%. Of our main trade partners, strong growth was posted by Germany (19.1%), United Kingdom (17.5%), Italy (18.0%) and France (13.1%). Spain's trade surplus with the European Union doubled to 2.05 billion euros in May 2017 (compared to a surplus of 918 million euros in May 2016).

The full report can be consulted on the Ministry's website.