Foreign trade report, January-November 2020

Exports amounted to 238.41 billion euros from January to November 2020

2021.1.21

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As the State Secretary for Trade, Xiana Méndez, explained, "We are still undergoing a complicated period and one of great uncertainty caused by the spread of the pandemic. However, exports in November remained steady and reached a level close to that of the same period of 2019. In addition, some important sectors continue with their good performance over recent months, such as the food, automotive and chemical sectors".

Figures for month of November

In November, Spanish exports of goods amounted to 24.73 billion euros, a fall of 1.3% on the same month of 2019.

For their part, imports fell by 5.9% year-on-year to 25.32 billion euros. Consequently, a deficit was posted in November 2020 of 593.1 million euros, 4.6 percentage points more than in November 2019.

The seasonally-adjusted figures corrected to account for the calendar effect saw exports fall by 3.2% year-on-year and imports fall by 7.9%. However, compared with October, exports dropped by 0.9% and imports rose by 0.8%.

The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 414 million euros (surplus of 72.4 million euros in November 2019, with provisional data) while the energy deficit fell by 48%.

The fall in exports in Spain in November (down 1.3%) is similar to that posted for the Eurozone (down 1.1%) and a little higher than for the EU-27 (down 0.3%).

The main positive contributions to the rate of annual change in exports came from the food, drinks and tobacco sector, the automotive sector, and consumer durables. In contrast, the sectors that most contributed negatively were energy products, consumer goods, capital goods, and raw materials.

In November 2020, exports to the EU rose to account for 61% of the total (59.6% in November 2019), a rise of 1%. Exports to the Eurozone rose by 1.2% while those to the rest of the EU fell by 0.1%. Of Spain's main trading partners, there were noteworthy increases in sales to Germany (up 9.5%), France (up 8.1%) and Portugal (up 0.1%). Finally, exports to third countries (non-EU) accounted for 39% of the total, dropping by 4.8% year-on-year, while sales to the United Kingdom rose by 8.3%.

Accumulated figures from January to November

Spanish exports of goods amounted to 238.41 billion euros, 10.9% less than in the period from January to November of the previous year. Imports amounted to 250.76 billion euros, a drop of 15.7%. Consequently, the trade deficit for the first 11 months of the year amounted to 12.35 billion euros, 58.7% down on the figure posted for the same period of 2019.

The coverage rate - ratio between exports and imports - stood at 95.1% (90% in January-November 2019). In terms of volume, exports fell by 10.4%, since prices, approximated by the Unit Value Indices, dropped by 0.5%. Imports fell by 13.2%, as prices dropped by 2.8%.

The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 1.18 billion euros (deficit of 8.6 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2019) while the energy deficit fell by 36.4% to 13.53 billion euros (deficit of 21.28 billion euros in 2019, with provisional data).

Spanish exports from January to November (down 10.9%) fell in line with the Eurozone (down 10%) and the EU-27 (down 9.2%). For their part, Spanish exports to China grew by 2.5%.

The main positive contributions to exports from January to November came from the food, drinks and tobacco sector and other goods. In contrast, the sectors that most contributed negatively were energy products, capital goods, the automotive sector and consumer goods.

Exports to the European Union (60.7% of the total) fell by 8.3% in the first 11 months of the year. Exports to the Eurozone (53.3% of the total) fell by 7.7% and exports to the rest of the European Union (7.4% of the total) fell by 12.9%.

Sales to third countries (39.3% of the total) fell by 14.5% in this period, with falls in exports to Latin America, down 26.1%, Africa, down 17.2%, North America, down 12.1%, the Middle East, down 11.9%, Asia, excluding the Middle East, down 7.2% and Oceania, down 5.4%.

By autonomous region, exports grew from Extremadura, while the largest declines were posted in the Canary Islands, the Basque Country and Asturias.

The complete report and the methodological note can be consulted at this website.

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