Spanish exports rose by 24.7% from January to September

"A trend similar to that of previous months continues, with imports and exports growing at a high year-on-year rate in nominal terms," explains the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez. "The evolution in volume of exports and imports is also very favourable because they are continuing to increase".

In volume terms, exports grew 4.8%, because prices, approximated by Unit Value Indices, rose by 18.9%. Imports rose by 10.6%, as prices increased by 26.4%.

The year-on-year growth of Spanish exports between January and September (24.7%) was higher than that recorded in the EU27 (22.6%) and the eurozone (22.9%). It was also higher than in Germany (15.0%), France (20.8%), Italy (21.1%) and the UK (26.3%). Outside Europe, sales also grew in the USA (21.2%), China (13.8%) and Japan (18.0%).

The main positive contributions to the annual rate of change in exports between January and September 2022 came from the energy products, chemical products, non-chemical semi-manufactures and capital assets sectors. No sector contributed negatively.

Exports to the European Union (62.3% of the total) increased by 25.9% in the first nine months of the year. Sales to the eurozone (54.7% of the total) increased by 25.2% and sales to the rest of the EU (7.6% of the total) grew by 31.4%.

Sales to third countries (37.7% of the total) grew by 22.7% in this period, with increases in exports to Latin America (31.4%), North America (29.7%), the Middle East (26.5%), Africa (19.5%) and Asia excluding the Middle East (6.7%).

The regional governments with the highest growth in their exports were the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and the Community of Madrid.

Data for September

In September, according to Customs-declared trade data, Spanish exports of goods increased by 22.2% more than the same month in 2021 to just over €34.6 billion, an all-time high for a September. Imports increased by 35.4% year-on-year to €41.6 billion, also a record high for any month.

As a result, a deficit of just short of €7 billion was recorded in September 2022. "The persistently high international prices of energy products explain why the deficit remains high," said Méndez.

The coverage rate (import/export ratio) stood at 83.2%, 9.0 percentage points lower than in September 2021 (92.2% with provisional data).

The non-energy balance showed a deficit of just short of €2.5 billion, and the energy deficit amounted to almost €4.5 billion.

Spain's increase in exports in September (22.2%) was larger than that recorded by the EU27 (25.3%) and the eurozone (25.4%). Among the major European economies, exports also grew in Germany, Italy, France and the UK. In the rest of the world, exports from the US increased by 23.9% year-on-year, from China by 10.7% year-on-year and from Japan by 28.9% year-on-year.

In September 2022, exports to the EU accounted for 64.7% of the total and rose by 24.8%. Exports to the eurozone increased by 23.9% and those to the rest of the EU were up 32.1%. Of the main partners, the increases in sales to Germany (34.7%), Portugal (26.1%), Italy (21.7%) and France (16.4%) stand out. Last, exports to third countries (non-EU) accounted for 35.3% of the total, up 17.6% year-on-year, with sales to the UK increasing by 15.6%.

Non official translation