The trade deficit narrowed by 5.7% in January compared to the same month last year thanks to the non-energy component

The trade deficit fell by 5.7% in January compared to the same month of the previous year, to just short of €3.73 billion. As evidenced in the Monthly Report on Foreign Trade, drawn up by the Secretary of State for Trade, this has been possible thanks to the good performance of non-energy exports, among which the automotive sector (19.1% year-on-year growth), food, beverages and tobacco (9.4% year-on-year) and capital goods (9.2% year-on-year) stand out, more than compensating the decrease in energy exports, which have fallen by 35%.

The non-energy goods trade deficit in January narrowed to €468 million, less than half that of January 2023, when it stood at just over €1.1 billion. This is the second smallest non-energy deficit in a January since 2015, only slightly behind January 2021, at €443 million.

Spanish merchandise exports reached over €30.14 billion in January 2024, an increase of nearly 4% compared to the previous month. This is the second best figure in the historical series for the month of January. Imports stand at just over €33.87 billion.

Trade surplus with the EU and the Eurozone

Despite the complex international context, which has led to a year-on-year decline in exports of 2.5%, in line with other neighbouring countries such as France and Italy, Spain recorded trade surpluses with the EU and the Eurozone in January of €2.89 billion and €3.06 billion respectively, supported by record exports for the month to many of our main markets, such as France (8.1% year-on-year growth), Germany (3.8% year-on-year) and Portugal (3.3% year-on-year).

The trade deficit with non-EU destinations also narrowed to just over €6.62 billion, with exports to other markets such as the UK (12.8% year-on-year), Poland (9.1% year-on-year), Turkey (6.9% year-on-year), Switzerland (9.6% year-on-year) and Mexico (30% year-on-year) increasing.

By autonomous communities, the most notable increases in exports were in Extremadura (28.7%), the Canary Islands (24.2%) and the Autonomous Community of Navarre (16.9%).

The number of regular exporters grew by 4.8% in January 2024 to 30,497 exporters. Regular exporters are those who have exported in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years. These operators exported a total of over €28.87 billion, 95.8% of the total, 0.2% more than in the same month of the previous year.

Non official translation