The Spanish foreign sector accelerated its growth in the month of October, reaching €35.28 billion, with exports up 9.3% year-on-year. This is the fourth consecutive month of growth, as shown by the trade data declared by Customs and contained in the Monthly Foreign Trade Report of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, prepared by the Secretary of State for Trade.
The figure is significantly relevant when compared internationally, with growth of Spanish goods exports exceeding the respective rates of Germany (0.4%), France (2.3%), Italy (1.6%), the USA (-0.4%) and the UK (-17.5%). In the euro area and the EU as a whole, exports grew by 2.1% and 1.9%, respectively. In China they grew by 11.2% year-on-year, and in Japan by 3.1%.
Imports rose by 4.8% to €39.21 billion, also a record high for the month of October.
The trade deficit narrowed by 23.4% year-on-year in October to €3.93 billion. The energy deficit, which accounted for more than 66% of the total deficit, fell by 21.7%, after the value of total energy imports fell by 18.3%.
Meanwhile, the coverage ratio (ratio of exports to imports as a percentage) stood at 90.0%, which is 3.7 percentage points higher than in October of the previous year.
By sectors, the surpluses in food, beverages and tobacco (€1.4 billion), the automobile sector (€779.1 million) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (€450.6 million) stood out.
The trade surplus with the EU increased to €2.16 billion (in October 2023, the surplus amounted to €1.31 billion). The trade deficit with non-EU destinations narrowed to €6.09 billion (compared to a deficit of €6.45 billion in October 2023). The destination markets with the highest surpluses in October were France (€1.51 billion), Portugal (€1.45 billion) and the UK (€1.3 billion).
Sectors and target markets
In October, the sectors with the highest positive contributions to the annual rate of change of exports (9.3%) were: food, beverages and tobacco (2.5 percentage points), chemicals (2.3 points), capital goods (1.6 points) and the automotive sector (1.3 points).
An all-time high for the month was reached for the capital goods (8.1% year-on-year growth), food, beverages and tobacco (15.2% year-on-year), automotive (8.5% year-on-year), non-chemical semi-manufactures (9.6% year-on-year) and raw materials (10.8% year-on-year) sectors.
By destination market, exports to the EU27 accounted for 61.5% of the total, rising by 9.1%. Record figures for the month were reached in 14 EU destinations, including Spain's four main export markets: France, Germany, Italy and Portugal.
Exports to non-EU destinations accounted for 38.5% of the total and were 9.6% higher than in the same month of the previous year. Record highs were achieved for the month in markets of great importance for Spain such as the UK, Morocco, Turkey, Switzerland and Mexico.
Foreign trade data January to October 2024
In the cumulative year to October 2024, exports of goods grew by 0.7% year-on-year to reach €322.09 billion, a record high for the period. Imports amounted to €353.11 billion, down 0.4% year-on-year.
The trade deficit decreased by 10.7 per cent to €31.02 billion, as the energy deficit continued its downward trend and decreased by 11.9 per cent to €24.83 billion. The coverage rate stood at 91.2%, an increase of 1 percentage point.
The sectors with the largest surpluses were food, beverages and tobacco (€15.36 billion), the automotive sector (€7.34 billion) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (€5.63 billion).
The trade surplus with the EU increased to €27.92 billion in the period between January and October 2024. With respect to non-EU countries, the trade deficit fell to €58.95 billion. The countries against which the Spanish economy recorded the largest surpluses were France (€18.48 billion), Portugal (€13.04 billion) and the UK (€11.46 billion).
By autonomous communities, the most notable growth in exports was observed in Castilla y León (18.8%), the Canary Islands (17.3%) and Extremadura (12.2%).
The number of regular exporters - those exporting more than €1,000 in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years - grew by 4.9% in the year until July 2024 to 45,305 exporters. This number of regular exporters in 2024 already exceeds the figure for 2023 as a whole (43,834). The total export turnover of regular exporters reached €309.1 billion up to October, representing 96% of the total and 3.7% more than in the same period of the previous year.
Non official translation
Containers for export