Catalonia represents over 25% of Spanish exports
CNA
Barcelona (ACN).- In the first two months of 2014 exports
of Catalan companies increased by 2.2% on the same period last year,
according to figures released on Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry for
the Economy and Competitiveness. In fact, Catalan companies were behind
25.3% of all exports from Spain. Spain's exports in January and February
reached €37.76 billion, a 4% increase on figures from the same period
last year. In addition, the amount reached in the first two months of
2014 represents an historical record. The main industries behind those
numbers are food, drinks, and tobacco, as well as manufacturing and
automation. The main markets for Spanish products were the UK,
Portugal, the United States and Germany. 64.6% of the exports go to the
European Union while the remaining 35.4% go to the rest of the world.
In the whole of Spain, exports increased by 4% in the first two
months of the year, reaching €37.76 billion, which represents a new
historic record. At the same time, imports reached €42.2 billion, with a
3% increase compared to 2013 figures. Imports posted the highest
increase of the last few years. Trade deficit reached 4.44 billion in
the first two months of 2014, a 5.2% reduction compared to the same
period of 2013. Energy deficit was reduced by 12.6% to €7.05 billion,
while the surplus of non-energy goods reached €2.61 billion.
Exports to the EU increased by 6.1% in the period analysed, four
times more than the 1.5% increase posted in January and February 2013.
This improvement is due to a better economic situation in most European
countries. Exports to the EU represented 64.6% of the total exported.
Goods sold to other Eurozone countries grew by 5.5%, while those sold to
the rest of the EU increased by 8.2%. Exports to non-EU countries
increased by 0.4% and now represent 35.4% of total Spanish exports.
Those sent to Asia increased by 13.4%, particularly in Japan (45.3%),
South Korea (46.7%) and China (14%).
Regarding economic sectors, the most important growth was for the
food, drinks, and tobacco industries, which increased their exports by
1.3%. The manufacturing sector increased foreign sales by 0.8%, the same
rate as the car industry. In addition, non-chemical semi-manufactured
products posted a 0.7% export increase, while capital goods had a 0.4%
growth. Regarding imports, those of cars and capital goods posted
significant increases.
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