Spanish merchandise exports maintained sustained growth from January to August 2025, reaching €255.921 billion, the second highest figure for this period, according to the Monthly Foreign Trade Report. This represents a year-on-year growth of 0.3%. Imports amounted to €291.026 billion.
Exports of non-energy products increased by 2% from January to August 2025, totalling €240.448 billion, while sales of energy products registered a 20% decline.
The sectors with the largest surpluses were: food, beverages and tobacco (€12.545 billion), non-chemical semi-manufactures (€4.424 billion) and other merchandise (€3.967 billion).
The trade surplus with the European Union reached €16.318 billion during this period. The countries against which the Spanish economy recorded the largest surpluses were France (€12.187 billion), Portugal (€11.462 billion) and the United Kingdom (€9.876 billion).
By autonomous communities, those that saw the most significant growth in their exports were Melilla (205%), Ceuta (95%), Extremadura (35%), the Canary Islands (10%) and Cantabria (6%).
The number of regular exporters - those that have exported more than €1,000 in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years - grew by 0.4% in the year from January to August 2025 to 44,596 exporters.
Foreign trade data for August 2025
For their part, exports for August 2025 showed resilience, reaching €24.351 billion. In seasonally adjusted and calendar adjusted terms, exports fell by 5.3% year-on-year. Imports, meanwhile, reached €30.334 billion, the third all-time high for August, growing by 0.2% after seasonal adjustments and applying the calendar correction.
In terms of international comparison, Spanish merchandise exports in August showed a similar performance to that of the Eurozone (-2.8%) and the European Union-27 (-2.8%). Among the major EU economies, only France saw growth in exports (1.5%). In contrast, exports from Germany (-3.9%) and Italy (-1.1%) fell. Outside the European Union, exports from China grew (4.8%), in contrast to Japan (-0.1%) and the United Kingdom (-9.7%).
The energy deficit, which accounted for more than 41.2% of the total deficit, decreased by 3.3%, with energy imports falling by 16.5% year-on-year.
The trade surplus with the European Union amounted to €1.161 billion. The destination markets where the largest surpluses were achieved in August were Portugal (€1.4 billion), France (€871.7 million), and the United Kingdom (€751.2 million).
Sectors and destination markets
By sector, the most notable surpluses were in in food, beverages and tobacco (€491.3 million), non-chemical semi-manufactures (€425.7 million), and other goods (€371.9 million).
By destination market, exports to the EU27 accounted for 61% of the total. Record figures for the month were achieved in 4 EU destinations, including Estonia, Hungary, Luxembourg and Malta.
Exports to non-EU destinations accounted for 39% of the total. Record highs for the month were achieved in markets important to Spain such as Panama, Chile and Egypt.
Non official translation
Containers on a dock, ready for transport
