The exports from Spain They fell 0.9% between January and July compared to the same period of the previous year, up to 228,375 million euros. However, the drop in Spanish imports has been more pronounced in those months, so the trade deficit has been reduced, something that is therefore due to a drop in international operations in the country. This is reflected in the data of the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business published this Friday.
Thus, imports exceeded 237,411.3 million euros between January and July, which represents a decrease of 1.7% compared to the same period in 2023.
For his part, the non-energy balance showed a deficit of 1,192.5 million of euros, 40.3% less, while the energy deficit It decreased by 7.7%, to 17,843.7 million euros. In this way, the coverage rate improved eight tenths, up to 92.3%.
The sectors that presented a greater surplus until July were food, beverages and tobacco (11,832.8 million euros), automobiles (5,466 million) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (3,941.9 million).
Spain’s exports
However, the good data on the trade deficit occur in a context of falling activity. By geographical areas, Spanish exports directed to the European Union They represented 62.1% of the total, while those to non-EU destinations accounted for 37.9% of the total.
With the European Union, a surplus of 20,210.2 million euros was recorded in the period, while the trade deficit with non-EU countries decreased to 39,246.4 million.
The countries with respect to which the Spanish economy registered the largest surpluses were France (13,765.6 million euros), Portugal (8,595.6 million) and United Kingdom (8,199.0 million).
By autonomous communities, those that observed the most notable growth in their exports were Canary Islands (21.7%), followed by Estremadura (14.5%) and Castile and León (11%).
The number of regular exporters (those who have exported more than 1,000 euros in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years) grew by 4.9% cumulatively until July 2024, up to 43,971 exporters. These exported a value of 219,426.1 million euros, which represented 96.1% of the total, and 2.3% more than in the same period of the previous year.
Furthermore, the data referring only to the month of July reflects a reduction in the trade deficit to 3,213.8 million euros, which represents a drop of 34.4% compared to the same month of 2023 (4,902.6 million).
Exports for the month of July 2024 reached 33,269.6 million, a historical maximum for the month of July and 9.3% more compared to the same month of the previous year, while imports reached 36,483.3 million euros , second highest figure in July in the historical series, with a growth of 3.2% year-on-year.
Thus, the coverage rate (ratio between exports and imports in percentage) improved by 5.1 percentage points, to 91.2%.
The non-energy deficit has been reduced by 53.8% year-on-year to 1,054.1 million, and the energy deficit has decreased by 17.5% year-on-year to 2,159.7 million. In addition, energy exports grew by 13.1% year-on-year in July, the fourth consecutive month with double-digit growth, thanks above all to the good performance of energy exports. gas and oil and derivatives.
