Spain posts a record export figure in the first quarter and cuts its trade deficit by 14.9%

Cumulative results are better than those of Italy (3.2%), France (3.1%) and the United Kingdom (-7.6%). They are also higher than those of the EU-28 as a whole (3.4%) and the Eurozone (3.0%), but lag behind those of Germany (up by a cumulative 5.4% in the period January-March). Outside the EU, Japan's exports grew by 9.0% while those of the United States fell by 5.1%.

In this period, imports increased by 2.5% to 66.5 billion euros. In real terms the increase was greater, since purchases of goods from abroad actually grew by 3.9% due to a 1.3% drop in prices measured using UVIs.

The trade deficit totalled 5.52 billion euros, 14.9% less than the figure recorded in the same period 2014 (a deficit of 6.49 billion euros). Falling energy prices gave rise to a significant energy deficit reduction, down by a year-on-year 36.4% to 6.88 billion euros. Meanwhile, the non-energy balance posted a surplus of 1.36 billion euros (4.32 billion euros in January-March 2014).

The coverage rate stood at 91.7%, 1.7 points higher than in January-March 2014 (90.0%).

Geographic areas

Exports to the European Union accounted for 65.3% of the total, a higher percentage than the 64.4% recorded in January-March 2014. This increase in the share is due in equal parts to the Eurozone (51.2% in the first three months of 2015, versus 50.7% in the same period 2014), and the rest of the EU (14.1% in January-March 2015 versus 13.7% in January-March 2014).

Sales to the EU and the Eurozone were up by 5.8% and 5.4%, respectively (7.9% and 7.6% in the same period 2014). Specifically, there was a considerable growth in sales to our leading trade partners: 8.8% to Germany; 10.9% to Italy; 3.4% to France, and 8.0% to the United Kingdom.

In the first three months of 2015, exports to non-EU countries also grew at a rate of 2.0% year-on-year, in contrast to the 4.3% drop in 2014, and accounted for 34.7% of the total (35.6% in 2014). Sales to all non-EU regions except the 'rest of Europe' also increased. Thus, sales to Latin America rose by 6.7%, with significant increases in orders from Chile and Mexico (30.0% and 13.3% respectively). Sales to North America (10.7%), the Middle East (22.8%), and Oceania (58.2%) also improved. By countries, the most significant increases were recorded in exports to Canada (48.3%), United States (6.6%), South Korea (38.5%), Egypt (20.1%), South Africa (15.0%) and Australia (65.3%).

In terms of contribution to the rate of change of total exports (4.4%), the main destinations were Germany (which accounted for 0.9 percentage points of the increase in total exports posted in January-March 2015), Italy (0.8 points), Saudi Arabia (0.7 points) and the United Kingdom (0.6 points).

The Autonomous Regions that most contributed to the year-on-year rate of change of exports in the first quarter of the year were Catalonia (25.7% of the total and a 6.6% export growth), which contributed 1.7 points, followed by the Region of Valencia (11.5% of the total and a 14.6% growth rate) which contributed 1.5 points. In third place stood Aragon, with 1.1 points, whose exports, up by 30.0%, contributed 4.6% of the total. Madrid contributed 0.7 points (11.8% of the total, with sales abroad up by 6.3%).

Economic sectors

From a sectoral point of view, this period saw a very positive performance by the automotive sector, whose sales abroad grew by 19.5%, accounting for 17.3% of all exports. The durable consumer goods sector also performed well, with exports up by 14.5%, accounting for 1.5% of the total, as did the consumer manufactures sector (exports up by 10.4% accounting for 9.7% of the total), the food, drink and tobacco sector (exports up by 8.3% accounting for 16.7% of the total), and the capital goods sector (exports up by 5.0% accounting for 20.1% of the total).

In terms of contribution to the annual rate of change of exports, the automotive sector contributed 2.9 percentage points; food, drink and tobacco contributed 1.3 points, capital goods contributed 1.0 point, and consumer manufactures 1.0 point.

By subsectors, the main positive contributors were cars and motorcycles (2.8 points, mainly due to higher sales to the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy); aircraft (1.0 points, to Australia, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Malaysia); fruit, vegetables and legumes (0.8 points, to France, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy), and clothing (0.6 points, to Italy, Poland, Germany and Portugal).

With regard to imports, improved industrial activity and the strengthening of consumption are driving purchases from abroad. Imports of capital goods grew by 14.6%, especially in the subsectors of industrial machinery (17.2%), transport equipment (16.1%), and other capital goods (15.1%). Other sectors posting significant increases in imports were the automotive sector (21.3% year-on-year), the durable consumer goods sector (23.3%), and the consumer manufactures sector (16.6%).

In terms of contribution to import growth, in this first quarter the automotive sector stood out with a contribution of 2.5 points, divided between cars and motorcycles (1.5 points) and automotive components (1.1 points). The capital goods sector (2.5 points), the consumer manufactures sector (1.8 points), and the chemical products sector (1.5 points) also made significant contributions.

March 2015

In the month of March, the growth rate of Spanish exports of goods increased to 12.5% in year-on-year terms and totalled 23.22 billion euros, a new historic high for exports in a single month. This figure is 3.9% higher than that of the previous best month, October 2014, when we exported goods worth 22.35 billion euros.

In real terms, annual export growth was slightly lower, 11.8%, since export prices measured using Unit Value Indices (UVIs) grew by 0.6%.

The figures for March, higher than those for the European Union as a whole (9.5%) and the Eurozone (8.3%), reflect the excellent performance of national exports. With regard to our main trade partners, although their exports grew in March, they grew at lower rates than they did in Spain: Germany's grew by a year-on-year 12.4%; Italy's by 9.2%; France's by 6.9%, and the United Kingdom's by 3.3%. Outside the EU, Japan increased exports by 8.5%, while in the United States export growth fell by 6.0%, possibly hit by the appreciation of the dollar.

Imports in March 2015 totalled 24.11 billion euros, 6.3% higher than in March 2014. The increase is slightly less in real terms, 5.6%, due to prices measured using UVIs increasing by 0.6%.

In March 2015 the trade balance posted a deficit of 890.6 million euros, 56.6% less than in the same month of 2014 (when the deficit was 2.05 billion euros). The coverage rate stood at 96.3%, 5.4 points higher than in March 2014 (90.9%, provisional figures). The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 1.56 billion euros (1.71 billion euros in March 2014) and the energy deficit fell by 35.0% due to lower energy prices.

Geographic areas

Exports in March to the European Union and to the Eurozone grew at year-on-year rates of 11.4% and 9.8% respectively and accounted for 63.5% and 49.9% of the total (versus 64.2% and 51.1% recorded in the same month of the previous year).

Sales to our main EU customers grew strongly this month. Specifically, sales to France (15.2% of the total) grew by a year-on-year 6.3%; sales to Germany (11.0% of the total) grew by 15.7%; to Italy (7.5% of the total), by 19.7%, and to Portugal (6.7% of the total), by 6.2%.

Year-on-year exports to non-EU countries in March were up by 14.6%. Significant growth was posted in a number of destinations with a great potential for Spanish exports, such as Canada (46.2%), Argentina (38.7%), Chile (56.8%), Mexico (60.0%), China (33.6%), South Korea (56.5%), Japan (17.5%) and Saudi Arabia (167.7%).

Economic sectors

The main contributions to export growth in March were from, in first place, the capital goods sector, which contributed 4.7 percentage points to the total export growth. The sector's sales abroad accounted for 21.7% of the total, having grown by 23.9%. In second place, the automotive sector contributed 3.3 points (its exports, 16.9% of the total, grew by 20.8%). Next came the food, drink and tobacco sector, which contributed 3.0 points (its exports, 16.3% of the total, grew by 19.2%), and the consumer manufactures sector, which contributed 1.8 points (its exports, 9.5% of the total, grew by 20.3%)

The subsector which contributed most to export growth this month was the aircraft subsector (2.8 points, mainly due to stronger sales to Saudi Arabia, Libya, Malaysia and France); cars and motorcycles (2.7 points, to Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey); fruit, vegetables and legumes (1.5 points, to Germany, France, United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, Netherlands); and clothing (1.0 points, to Poland, Italy, Portugal and France).