Exports grow by 4.3% and deficit falls by 9.3% to May

Spanish goods exports rose by 4.3% in the period January-May 2015 (a rate which is 3.5 percentage points above that of the same period of 2014, 0.8%) up to 102.92 billion euros. Spanish exports once again recorded the highest annual figure in the period January-May since records began (1971). The real change was slightly less, 3.3%, since export prices measured using Unit Value Indices (UVIs) grew by 1.0 %.

French exports rose by 2.9% over this period and UK exports fell by 3.5%, although the increase recorded by Germany, with growth of 5.7%, exceeded that of Spain. Outside the EU, Japan posted year-on-year growth of 7.5%, contrasting with a downturn of 5.1% in the United States.

The rate of growth in imports, which amounted to 112.35 billion euros, slipped to 3.0% (2.3 points lower than the same period last year, 5.3%). In real terms the increase was greater, since purchases of goods from overseas actually grew by 4.2% due to a 1.1% drop in prices measured using UVIs.

With these figures, the trade deficit amounted to 9.43 billion euros, 9.3% down on the figure posted in the same period of 2014. The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 2.17 billion euros, while the energy deficit fell substantially, by 34.0%, due to lower energy prices.

In turn, the coverage rate stood at 91.6%, in other words, 1.1 points higher than in January-May 2014.

Geographic areas

Exports to the EU accounted for 64.9% of the total, a higher percentage than the 63.7% recorded in January-May 2014. This increase in the share is due in equal parts to the Eurozone (50.7% in the first five months of 2015, versus 50.2% in the same period of 2014) and the rest of the EU (14.3% in January-May 2015 versus 13.5% in the same period last year).

Consequently, the European recovery explains why sales to the EU and the Eurozone were up by 6.3% and 5.3%, respectively (3.8% and 3.9% in the same period of 2014). By country, sales to Spain's main customers grew: Germany (up 5.3%), France (4.0%), Italy (12.6%) and the United Kingdom (11.3%), while those to Portugal remained stable (0.0%).

Demand from non-EU countries also grew, at rates of 0.7%, in contrast with the year-on-year fall of 4.0% in the period January-May 2014. Demand from non-EU countries accounted for 35.1% of the total compared with 36.3% in 2014. Especially noteworthy was the growth in exports to Oceania (20.8%) and Asia (8.5%). Exports to North America (9.9%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East (15.2%) also improved. By country, particularly noteworthy export growth in this period was posted to the United States (7.6%), Canada (28.5%), Saudi Arabia (30.5%), South Korea (11.8%), China (5.2%), Australia (23.9%) and the Philippines (8.6%).

The countries making the greatest positive contributions to the year-on-year growth in Spanish exports were Italy (accounting for 0.9 percentage points of this export growth, mainly due to increased sales of motor vehicles and motorcycles, iron and steel, fruit, vegetables and legumes and clothing); the United Kingdom (0.8 points, due to increased exports of motor vehicles and motorcycles, other goods, fruit, vegetables and legumes and oil and oil derivatives); France (0.6 points, due to increased exports of motor vehicles and motorcycles, fruit, vegetables and legumes, engines and non-ferrous metals); and Germany (0.6 points, due to increased exports of motor vehicles and motorcycles, fruit, vegetables and legumes, medicine and aircraft).

The autonomous region which posted the greatest year-on-year increase in exports in the first five months of the year was Aragon (23.7% year-on-year), followed by the Balearic Islands (17.2% year-on-year) and Castile-La Mancha (13.3% year-on-year). The largest year-on-year falls were posted in Cantabria (-15.2% year-on-year), Andalusia (-5.4% year-on-year) and the Canary Islands (-4.9% year-on-year).

In terms of contributions to the annual rate of change for the period, the region with the largest positive contribution to the year-on-year rate of change in total exports was Catalonia, with 1.4 percentage points, whose exports accounted for 25.5% total in the period January-May 2015 and grew year-on-year at a rate of 5.6%. It was followed by the Region of Valencia, with a contribution of 1.3 points, whose exports, 11.4% total, grew by 12.6% year-on-year. The regions with the highest negative contributions were Andalusia with -0.6% (10.7% of total exports, falling by 5.4% year-on-year) and the Basque country with -0.4 points (8.3% of the total, falling by 4.3% year-on-year). The exports of the Region of Madrid (11.5% of the total) rose at 5.1% year-on-year and those of Galicia (7.4% of the total) rose by 4.2% year-on-year.

Economic sectors

From a sectoral point of view, the main sectors in terms of share of total exports were the capital goods sector (with exports accounting for 19.5% of the total and rising by 1.0% year-on-year), the automotive sector (17.1% of the total and a year-on-year rise of 18.4%), the food, beverage and tobacco sector (16.7% of the total and a year-on-year rise of 8.2%), and the chemical products sector (14.7% of the total, with a year-on-year rise of 7.0%).

The largest positive contributions from exports came from the automotive sector (contributing 2.8 points to the total annual rise in exports of 4.3%), food, beverage and tobacco (contributing 1.3 points), chemical products (contributing 1.0 points), and manufactured consumer goods (contributing 0.8 points). The only sectors which pulled down exports were the energy products sector (contributing -1.6 points) and the other goods sector (contributing -0.7 points).

By subsector, the main positive contributions were firstly - and by a very considerable margin compared with the rest - from motor vehicles and motorcycles (2.5 points, mainly as a result of higher sales to the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Turkey), followed by exports of fruit, vegetables and legumes (0.8 points, to Germany, France, Italy and United Kingdom), clothing (0.4 points, to Italy, Poland, Saudi Arabia and China), and medicines (0.4 points, to the United States, Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands).

With regard to imports, improved industrial activity and the strengthening of consumption continue to drive purchases from abroad. Hence, imports of capital goods (which accounted for 90.6% of total imports) rose at a year-on-year rate of 16.4%, those of chemical products (16.2% of the total) rose 10.4% year-on-year, and those of the automotive sector (13.7% of the total) rose by 17.4% year-on-year. In contrast, imports of energy products (14.6% of the total) fell by 31.5% year-on-year, reflecting the global fall in prices.

In terms of contribution to import growth, particularly noteworthy in these first five months of the year were the capital goods sector (contributing 2.8 percentage points to the growth in total imports), the automotive sector (contributing 2.1 points), the chemical products sector (contributing 1.6 points), and the manufactured consumer goods sector (contributing 1.5 points). The only sector which pulled imports down in the period January-May was the energy products sector with a contribution of -6.9 points.

May 2015

In May, Spanish goods exports grew by 1.9% year-on-year to a figure of 21.03 billion euros. This is an all-time high for May since records began (1971). In real terms, exports fell by 0.9% year-on-year since prices measured using Unit Value Indices rose by 2.9%.

Among the main EU economies, Germany's exports also grew (4.6%), while those of France (-0.9%) and United Kingdom (-0.6%) fell. Outside the EU, US exports fell by 7.2% year-on-year, while those of Japan rose by 2.4%.

Imports totalled 22.68 billion euros, 1.3% higher than in May 2014. The increase is slightly higher in real terms (1.5%) as prices measured using UVIs fell by 0.2%.

The trade balance posted a deficit of 1.66 billion euros, 5.6% lower than in the same month of 2014 (a deficit of 1.76 billion euros). The coverage rate stood at 92.7%, 0.5 points higher than in May 2014 (92.2%). The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 686.9 million euros (1.62 billion euros in May 2014, provisional data), while the energy deficit fell by 30.5% not only due to lower energy prices but also to lower imported quantities.

Geographic areas

In year-on-year terms, the share of Spanish exports to EU countries grew in May 2015 at the expense of the share of exports to third countries. The share of exports to the EU stood at 64.9% of the total, a higher percentage than the 63.6% recorded in May 2014. This growth in share is related to the Eurozone (50.3% in May 2015 compared with 50.0% in May 2014) and to the rest of the EU (14.6% in May 2015 and 13.5% in the same month of 2014).

Exports to the EU grew by 4.1% year-on-year, while those to the Eurozone grew by 2.6% year-on-year. Exports to the rest of the EU also rose, in this case by 10.0%.

Among our main customers, those of the Eurozone, there was a noteworthy increase in sales to Italy (10.8%, accounting for 7.9% of total exports), Belgium (21.4%, 2.9% of the total), and France (our main customer, accounting for 15.4% of our exports, which rose by 1.8%). Exports to the United Kingdom (7.4% of the total) rose by 6.8%.

Economic sectors

The largest contributions to export growth in May came firstly from the automotive sector, accounting for 2.3 percentage points of the total increase in exports. Exports from this sector accounted for 17.7% of the total, having grown by 14.9%. In second place was the chemical products sector, which contributed 1.3 points (its exports, 14.9% of the total, grew by 9.2%), followed by the food, beverage and tobacco sector, which contributed 0.9 points (its exports, 16.8% of the total, grew by 5.3%) and the manufactured goods sector, which contributed 0.5 points (its exports, 8.7% of the total, grew by 5.6%).

By subsector, the main positive contributors were motor vehicles and motorcycles (2.2 points, mainly due to higher sales to France, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Belgium), medicines (0.7 points, mainly to the United States and some way behind Australia, Germany and Japan), and electrical appliances (contributing 0.6 points, mainly to Poland, followed by Italy and Greece).