The trade deficit falls more than 40% until February and exports reach record figures

The energy deficit reached 5,894.1 million in the first two months of the year, 16% less than in the same period of 2022

The trade deficit stood at 6,420.6 million euros in the first two months of the year, which represents a decrease of 40.4% compared to that registered in the same period of 2022, according to data published this Thursday by the Ministry Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

The report on foreign trade for February reflects that the energy deficit in the first two months of this year fell to 5,894.1 million euros, compared to 6,984.5 million in the same period of the previous year, while the balance was not energy showed a deficit of 526.5 million euros, less than the 3,790.2 million of 2022.

Spanish merchandise exports increased by 12.8% up to February over the same period in 2022, with 63,751.1 million euros, a record high for the period. Imports, on their side, rose by 4.3%, to 70,171.7 million euros, also an all-time high.

"The Spanish foreign sector continues to show dynamism and trade flows remain at historical figures, which shows the excellent positioning of our companies in international markets", highlighted the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Héctor, in a statement. Gomez.

In volume, exports decreased by 0.5% year-on-year, since their approximate prices by unit value indices increased by 13.3%, and imports fell by 3.3% year-on-year, due to their prices rising by 7.8%

Thus, the coverage rate --quotient between exports and imports-- stood at 90.9%, that is, 6.9 percentage points more than that registered in January-February 2022 (84% with provisional data).

GREATER WEIGHT OF EXPORTS OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS

The main sectors in terms of weight over total exports in the period were chemical products, which represented 19.1% of the total and increased 15.9% year-on-year. They are followed by capital goods (17.5% of the total and increased 20.9% year-on-year), food, beverages and tobacco (17.2% of the total and increased 9.4% year-on-year) and the automotive sector (13, 0% of the total and grew by 20.3% year-on-year).

The sectors that contributed the most to the annual variation rate of exports in the period (12.8%) were capital goods (3.4 points), chemical products (3 points), automobile sector (2.5 points) and energy products (1.9 points). At the opposite extreme, the sectors that contributed negatively in the period were: raw materials (contribution of -0.2 points) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (-0.2 points).

EXPORTS TO THE EU RISE BY 15.5%

Among the main economies of the European Union, exports from Germany (9.4%) and France (9.7%) also grew. Outside the European Union, exports from the United Kingdom increased by 15.9% year-on-year, those from the United States increased by 8.7% year-on-year, those from China by 0.9% year-on-year, and those from Japan by 5.1% year-on-year.

Spanish exports to the European Union-27 in the period represented 64.5% of the total, higher than the 63% in the same period of the previous year and increased by 15.5% year-on-year. For its part, those directed to the euro zone accounted for 56.2% of the total and grew by 14% year-on-year.

By country, the cumulative increase up to February in exports to Germany (16.7%), Italy (15%), France (14.5%) and Portugal (5.6%) stands out. In the rest of Europe, sales to Turkey increased by 25.8% and sales to the United Kingdom increased by 6.7%.

Exports to third destinations increased by 8.3% year-on-year in this period, and account for 35.5% of the total, highlighting the growth of exports to Oceania (35.3%), Latin America (19%), South America North (10.3%), the Middle East (2.8%) and Asia excluding the Middle East (2.1%), compared to the declines in Africa (-2.6%).

By country, the increases in Singapore (44.7%), Brazil (39.7%), Australia (34.4%), South Africa (26.1%), United Arab Emirates (21.9%), India (18.9%), Egypt (18.8%), Indonesia (15.2%), United States (13.3%), Morocco (14.7%) and Mexico (13.2%). On the opposite side, Algeria (-94.9%), Nigeria (-22.9%), Argentina (-19%), South Korea (-12.9%), Canada (-12%), Chile (-9.5%), China (-6.7%) and Peru (-0.8%).

THE BALEARIC ISLANDS REGISTERED THE GREATEST INCREASE IN EXPORTS

By autonomous community, the community that experienced the highest year-on-year variation rate of its exports in the period was the Balearic Islands (64%), followed by the Community of Madrid (25.8%) and the Principality of Asturias (25.2%). . On the other hand, the greatest year-on-year decreases were registered in the Canary Islands (-11.4%), Galicia (-3.6%) and Cantabria (-1.4%).

In the analysis of the contributions to the interannual variation rate of total exports (12.8%), the community with the greatest positive contribution was Catalonia, with 4.7 percentage points, whose exports represented 25.7% of the total and grew by 19.3% year-on-year. It was followed by the Community of Madrid, with a contribution of 3.5 points and whose exports, 15.2% of the total, increased by 25.8% year-on-year.

The Communities with the greatest negative contributions were Galicia, with -0.3 points (6.7% of total exports, fell 3.6% year-on-year) and Canarias, with -0.1 points (0.6% of total , decreased by 11.4% year-on-year).