Exports grow by 2.4% and the deficit shrinks by 30.9% to May

Meanwhile imports fell by 0.4% to 111.88 billion euros. This drop was caused by the effect of prices (5.3% lower), and therefore, by volume, our purchases from abroad grew by 5.1%.

Consequently, from January to May the trade deficit grew by 6.52 billion euros, 30.9% less than in the same period of 2015 and the second lowest figure for the period since 1998, only surpassed by May 2013. The coverage rate stood at 94.2%, i.e. 2.6 percentage points higher than the rate for January-May 2015 (91.6%). The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 132.6 million euros (a 2.17-billion euro surplus in January-May 2015), while the energy deficit shrank by 42.7% as a result of the substantial drop in energy prices.

If we compare these figures with those of other countries, the cumulative export figures for Spain (2.4%) contrast with the slight growth posted by Eurozone countries (0.1%) and the drop recorded in the European Union as a whole (-0.6%). In comparison with the main world economies, Germany's exports (1.5% year-on-year) and Italy's exports (0.1%) grew to a lesser extent, while foreign sales by France (-0.1%) and the United Kingdom (-5.7%) fell. Outside the EU, exports from the United States (-6.9%), China (-7.1%) and Japan (-9%) all shrank.

Economic sectors

In the first five months of 2016, exports from the main sectors performed positively. Capital goods (19.9% of the total) grew by 4.8% year-on-year; the automotive sector (18.8% of the total) maintained its strong growth of 12.8% year-on-year; the food, drink and tobacco (17.3% of the total) and chemical products (14.5% of the total) sectors also increased their sales abroad by 6.4% and 0.9% respectively. Conversely, sales abroad of energy products (-8% year-on-year), hit by low energy prices, non-chemical semi-manufactures (-4.3%), raw materials (-12.5%), and other goods (-51.7%) all declined.

As a result, the main positive contributions from exports came from the automotive sector (accounting for 2.2 percentage points of total export growth), food, drink and tobacco (1.1 points), capital goods (0.9 points), consumer manufactures (0.8 points) and durable consumer goods (0.2 points). The only negative contributions came from the sectors of other goods (-1.8 points), non-chemical semi-manufactures (-0.5 points), energy products (-0.4 points), and raw materials (-0.3 points).

By sub-sector, the main positive contributions came from automobiles and motorcycles (1.7 points, mainly due to the stronger sales to Germany, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom); road haulage equipment (0.7 points, to the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands); automotive components (0.5 points, to Romania and France); and clothing (0.5 points, to Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and China).

Conversely, the sub-sectors that most dragged exports were iron and steel (-0.6 points, mainly due to weaker sales to Algeria, Italy, the United States and Germany); aircraft (-0.3 points, to Australia, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Malaysia); minerals (-0.3 points, mainly to Bulgaria); and medicines (-0.2 points, especially to the United States, Italy, Hungary and the United Kingdom).

With regard to imports, the consolidation of the recovery of the Spanish economy is behind the growth in most sectors. Imports of capital goods (21.4% of the total) grew by 8.7% year-on-year, automotive sector imports (14.9% of the total) grew by 8.1%, and purchases of consumer manufactures and durable consumer goods grew by 9.5% and 8.9%, respectively.

Thus, the main positive contributions to imports in the period January-May 2016 were made by the capital goods sector (contribution of 1.7 points), the automotive sector (1.1 points), and the consumer manufactures sector (1.1 points). The only negative contributions by sectors in this period came from energy products (-4.8 points), raw materials (-0.5 points), and non-chemical semi-manufactures (-0.3 points).

By sub-sector, the main positive contributions came from automobiles and motorcycles (1.1 points, mainly due to stronger purchases from Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France); clothing (0.7 points, mostly from Turkey, Morocco and Bangladesh); general purpose machinery (0.4 points, from the Czech Republic, Germany, China and France); and electrical appliances (0.3 points, especially from Morocco).

Conversely, the sub-sectors that most dragged imports were oil and oil derivates (-3.7 points, mainly due to weaker purchasing from Angola, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Mexico); gas (-0.7 points, mainly due to a drop in imports from Algeria, Qatar and Norway); and minerals (-0.6 points, from the United States and Chile).

Geographic areas

Exports to the European Union (66.9% of the total) grew by 5.5% in January-May 2016 compared with the same period the previous year. Sales to the Eurozone (52.1% of the total) grew by 5.3% and sales to the rest of the European Union (14.8% of the total) increased by 6.3%. Conversely, the unfavourable trade cycle in emerging countries caused exports to third parties (33.1% of the total) to fall by 3.4% in this period, while exports to Latin America (-12%), Asia excluding the Middle East (-0.9%), Africa (-1.3%) and Oceania (-32.3%) also fell. Exports to the Middle East (2.4%) and North America (2.2%) grew. By country, export growth to expanding markets such as Chile (14.5%), China (13.4%), Morocco (16.5%) and the United States (3.3%) was particularly noteworthy.

Thus, the countries with the greatest positive contribution to the year-on-year rate of change of Spanish exports in January-May 2016 (2.4%) were Germany (1 point, due to stronger sales of automobiles and motorcycles, and fruit, vegetables and pulses), the United Kingdom (0.7 points, due to increased exports of aircraft, automobiles and motorcycles, and road haulage equipment), Belgium (0.6 points, mainly due to stronger sales of automobiles and motorcycles, and oil and oil derivates) and Italy (0.5 points, as a result of higher sales of automobiles and motorcycles and, some way behind, road haulage equipment).

Conversely, the largest negative contributions came from Brazil (-0.3 points, due to lower sales of automobiles and motorcycles, electrical appliances, and oil and oil derivates), Australia (-0.3 points, mainly as a result of a drop in aircraft exports), Gibraltar (-0.3 points, due to a drop in sales of oil and oil derivates), and Argentina (-0.2 points, on the back of weaker exports of special purpose machinery, automotive components and gas).

By autonomous region, the regions that posted the highest year-on-year export rate of change in the period January-May 2016 were Castile and Leon (20.4% year-on-year), Castile-La Mancha (11.7%) and the Region of Valencia (8.9%). Meanwhile, the largest year-on-year drops were posted by the Balearic Islands (-25.7% year-on-year), the Canary Islands (-23.1%), and the Principality of Asturias (-10.2%).

In terms of contribution to the year-on-year export rate of change, the largest positive contributions were posted by Castile and León (1.1 percentage points) whose exports accounted for 6.6% of the total and grew by 20.4% year-on-year, and the Region of Valencia (1 percentage point) whose sales abroad accounted for 12.2% of the total and increased by 8.9% year-on-year. The regions with the highest negative contributions were the Region of Madrid with -0.4 points (10.8% of total exports, down by 3.7%) and Andalusia with -0.2 points (10.2% of total exports, down by 2.2%).

Exports from Catalonia (25.4% of the total) grew by 1.9%, those from the Basque Country (8.4% of the total) grew by 3.8%, while exports from Galicia (7.7% of the total) grew by 6.4%.

May 2016

In May, Spanish exports of goods increased by 4.7% year-on-year to 22.01 billion euros, the highest amount for that month since records began. By volume, the increase was even higher, at 9.6% year-on-year, due to the fact that prices measured by Unit Value Indices fell by 4.5%. In seasonally-adjusted terms, the increase was 1.9%.

Imports in May 2016 grew by 1.2% in year-on-year terms to 22.96 billion euros. By volume, the growth was stronger (7.3%) since import prices fell by 5.6%.

As a result the trade balance posted a deficit of 940.9 million euros in May 2016, 43.2% less than in the same month of 2015 (a deficit of 1.66 billion euros). The coverage rate stood at 95.9%, 3.2 percentage points higher than in May 2015 (92.7%, with provisional data). The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 322.4 million euros (versus a surplus of 686.9 million euros in May 2015, with provisional data), while the energy deficit fell by 46.1%.

Spanish export growth in May (4.7%) is much higher than Eurozone export growth (1.6%), and is in contrast with the drop in exports from the European Union as a whole (-0.1%). By country, exports from Germany (1.6% year-on-year) and Italy (2.4%) grew to a lesser extent, exports from France grew by a greater extent (7.1%), while exports from the United Kingdom fell (-10%). Outside the EU, exports from China (-4.7% year-on-year), the United States (-6.6%) and Japan (-11.3%) all shrank.

Economic sectors

In May, contributions to export growth came from the following sectors: food, drink and tobacco (contribution of 2.3 points), capital goods (2.1 points), the automotive sector (1.8 points), and consumer manufactures (0.9 points). Conversely, the only sectors that contributed negatively were other goods (contribution of -1.9 points), energy products (contribution of -0.4 points), non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of -0.3 points), and raw materials (-0.2 points).

By sub-sector, the main positive contributions were from automobiles and motorcycles (1.2 points, mainly due to stronger sales to Germany, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom); fruit, vegetables and pulses (0.7 points, to Germany, France and the United Kingdom); road haulage equipment (0.7 points, particularly to the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent to the Netherlands, Italy and Saudi Arabia); and clothing (0.7 points, mostly to the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Germany). Conversely, the sub-sectors that most dragged exports were gas (-0.5 points, mainly due to lower sales to Kuwait, Argentina and Canada); iron and steel (-0.3 points, to Algeria, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom); engines (-0.3 points, to the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, to France, Turkey and Portugal); and minerals (-0.3 points, mainly due to Bulgaria).

Geographic areas

In May 2016, exports to the European Union accounted for 65.7% of the total, above the 64.9% posted in May the previous year. This increased share is due to the Eurozone (51.2% versus 50.3% in May 2015), since the contribution from the rest of the European Union shrank slightly (14.5% in May 2016 versus 14.6% in the same month last year).

Exports to the European Union grew by 5.9% year-on-year; exports to the Eurozone increased by 6.4% and those to the rest of the European Union grew to lesser extent, by 4%. Of our main trade partners, we would highlight the growth of exports to Germany (14.3%), Italy (4.5%), France (2.2%) and the United Kingdom (9%).

Exports to non-European Union countries accounted for 34.3% of the total (35.1% in May 2015) and grew by 2.5% on the same period last year. By region, exports grew to North America (14.8%), Asia excluding the Middle East (10.9%) and Africa (3.8%). Conversely, sales to Latin America (-5.7%), the Middle East (-4.8%) and Oceania (-12.9%) declined. By country, we would highlight export growth to the United States (17.8%), Chile (14.7%), China (25.9%), Morocco (11.5%) and Egypt (30.5%), and in negative terms, Argentina (-43.4%), Brazil (-10.6%) and Australia (-15.6%).

The countries with the greatest positive contribution to the year-on-year rate of change of Spanish exports in May 2016 (4.7%) were Germany (1.5 points, due to stronger sales of automobiles and motorcycles, fruit, vegetables and pulses, and drinks), the United States (0.8 points, mainly the result of sales of electrical appliances, oils and greases, and organic chemical products), the United Kingdom (0.7 points, due to the increase in exports of road haulage equipment, fruit, vegetables and pulses, and other goods), and China (0.4 points, mainly due to stronger sales of meat products).

Conversely, the greatest negative contributions came from Gibraltar (-0.4 points, due to lower sales of oil and oil derivates), Argentina (-0.3 points, mainly due to the drop in exports of gas, and to a lesser extent, automotive components and electrical appliances), Bulgaria (-0.3 points, accounted for almost entirely by a drop in mineral exports), and Greece (-0.2 points, due to lower sales of electrical appliances, oil and oil derivates, and other capital goods).

Spain's trade surplus with the European Union stood at 918.3 million euros in May 2016 (versus a surplus of 910.9 million euros in May 2015, with provisional data). The trade balance with the Eurozone posted a surplus of 462.6 million euros (versus a surplus of 473.2 million euros in the same month of the previous year). Meanwhile, the trade deficit with non-EU countries fell by 27.6% versus May 2015, to 1.86 billion euros (compared with a deficit of 2.57 billion euros in May 2015).