Prime Minister Office of Spain : Exports grow by 4.3% to November and the deficit shrinks by 1.2%

The real variation was a little lower (3.6%), due to the fact that prices calculated using Unit Value Indices (UVIs) grew by 0.7%.

Imports, which totalled 252.47 billion euros, grew by 3.8% (2.0 points less than in the same period last year). In terms of volume the increase was greater (6.1%) since prices fell by 2.2%.

According to these figures the trade deficit now stands at 22.38 billion euros, 1.2% lower than in the same period 2014. The coverage rate stands at 91.1%, 0.4 points higher than in January-November 2014 (90.7%). The non-energy balance posted a surplus of 2.12 billion euros (12.9 billion euros in January-November 2014), while the energy balance improved by 31.1% (reduction of the energy deficit) on the back of a substantial fall in energy prices.

The figures from Spain coincide with those of the Eurozone as a whole (4.3%); they are a little lower than those from the European Union (4.8%) and Germany (6.7%), and higher than those from France (4.0%), Italy (3.8%) and UK (-2.6%). Outside the EU, US exports in the period January-November 2015 posted a year-on-year variation of -6.8%, while Japan's exports grew by 4.7% in this same period.

Economic sectors

In the first eleven months of 2015 exports from nearly all productive sectors performed positively, with the exception of energy products (with a 28.1% year-on-year drop) penalised by low energy prices, other goods (down by 21.7% year-on-year), and commodities (down by 2.9%). Capital goods (20.0% of the total) grew by 3.9% year-on-year. The automotive sector (17.1% of the total) stands out in particular, continuing its very strong growth in these last eleven months to post a 19.7% year-on-year growth. The food, drink and tobacco sector (16.0% of the total) and chemical products sector (14.4% of the total) posted stronger sales abroad by 9.0% and 6.1% respectively.

The main positive contributions to exports came from the following sectors: automotive (contribution of 2.9 percentage points to the increase in total exports), food, drink and tobacco (1.4 points), chemical products (0.9 points), consumer manufactures (0.9 points), and capital goods (0.8 points). The only significant negative contributions came from the sectors of energy products (-2.0 points) and other goods (-1.0 points).

By subsectors, the main positive contributions were from automobiles and motorcycles (2.5 points, mainly due to stronger sales to UK, Germany, Italy, and Belgium); fruit, vegetables and legumes (0.8 points, to Germany, France, UK and Italy); clothing (0.5 points, to Italy, Germany, Poland and China); and automotive components (0.5 points, to France, UK, Morocco and Romania).

Conversely, the sectors that contributed least were the subsectors of oil and oil derivates (-1.4 points, mainly due to lower sales to USA, France, Gibraltar and Italy); gas (-0.7 points, to Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Argentina); road haulage equipment (-0.3 points, mainly to France); and iron and steel (-0.2 points, to Algeria, UK, Portugal and Singapore).

With regard to imports, the consolidation of the recovery of the Spanish economy is reflected in the 18.7% growth of imports of capital goods (20.1% of the total) due to the dynamism of productive investment. Meanwhile, the recovery of consumption and the vigour of the sector's exports are behind the 17.4% increase in imports from the automotive sector (13.2% of the total), and the increased purchases of consumer manufactures (+14.0%) and consumer durables (+14.2%).

The main positive contributions to imports in the period January-November 2015 came from the following sectors: capital goods (contribution of 3.3 points), automotive sector (2.0 points), chemical products (1.6 points) and consumer manufactures (1.5 points). The only negative contribution by sectors in this period came from energy products (-6.4 points).

By subsectors, the main positive contributions were from automobiles and motorcycles (1.4 points, mainly due to higher imports from Germany, UK, France and Japan); medicines (0.8 points, especially from the USA, and to a lesser extent from Ireland and Germany); electrical appliances (0.7 points, from Morocco, Germany and China); and clothing (0.7 points, from Bangladesh, China, Turkey and Italy).

Conversely, the highest negative contributions to imports were from the subsectors of oil and oil derivates (-5.5 points, mainly due to weaker purchases from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Nigeria); gas (-1.0 points, mostly from Algeria and, to a lesser extent, from Norway); mineral ores (-0.1 points, from Brazil, Australia, Russia and Argentina); and dairy products and eggs (-0.1 points, from France and Germany).

Geographic areas

Exports to the EU-28 (65.0% of the total) grew by 6.4% in January-November 2015 compared with the same period of the previous year, as a result of the consolidation of the economic recovery in this region. Also, sales to the Eurozone (50.6% of the total) and to the rest of the EU (14.4% of the total) also increased, by 5.4% and 10.2%, respectively. Exports to third countries, which account for 35.0% of the total, increased by 0.5% year-on-year in this period, with standout export growth to Oceania (+12.2%), America (+7.8%) and Asia (+4.9%). Within these regions, increased sales to such high potential markets as the USA (+8.6%), China (+8.4%), Mexico (+22.6%), Chile (+25.9%), Saudi Arabia (+37.3%) and Australia (18.9%) should also be noted.

Thus the countries with the highest positive contribution to the year-on-year variation rate of Spanish exports in January-November 2015 (4.3%) were Germany (0.9 points, due to stronger sales of automobiles and motorcycles, and fruit, vegetables and legumes), UK (0.7 points, especially due to stronger exports of automobiles and motorcycles, and also of fruit, vegetables and legumes, and engines), Italy (0.6 points, mostly due to the increase in exports of automobiles and motorcycles), and France (0.5 points, due to stronger exports of automobiles and motorcycles and, to a lesser extent, fruit, vegetables and legumes, automotive components, and aircraft).

Conversely, the largest negative contributions came from Russia (-0.4 points, due to weaker sales of fruit, vegetables and legumes, medicines and ceramic and similar products), Taiwan (-0.2 points, due to the drop in oil and oil derivates and rail transport equipment exports), Algeria (-0.2 points, due to the fall in exports of automobiles and motorcycles, and iron and steel) and Brazil (-0.2 points, mostly due to lower exports of gas).

By Autonomous Regions, the strongest year-on-year growths in terms of exports in January-November 2015 were posted by Castile and Leon (+16.1%), the Region of Valencia (+15.4% year-on-year), and the Balearics (+15.0%). Conversely, the greatest year-on-year decreases were posted by the Region of Murcia (-10.7% year-on-year), Cantabria (-7.9%), and Andalusia (-5.7%).

In terms of contributions to the year-on-year rate of change in total exports, the largest positive contributions were from the Region of Valencia (1.6 points) and Catalonia (1.5 points), whose exports accounted for 11.3% and 25.5% of the total, and grew by 15.4% and 6.0% year-on-year, respectively. The regions posting the largest negative contributions were Andalusia with -0.6 points (9.9% of the total of exports, falling by 5.7% year-on-year) and the Region of Murcia with -0.5 points (3.7% of the total, and a fall of 10.7% year-on-year).

Exports from the Region of Madrid (11.3% of the total) grew by 1.0% year-on-year, while those from Galicia (7.6% of the total) increased by 5.4%.

November 2015

In the month of November, Spanish exports of goods grew by 8.6% in year-on-year terms to 21.66 billion euros. By volume the increase was slightly lower (8.5% year-on-year) due to the fact that prices calculated using unit value indices increased by 0.1%. In deseasonalised terms, growth was a little weaker at a year-on-year 6.7%.

Imports in November 2015 increased by 9.3% in year-on-year terms to a total of 23.51 billion euros. By volume import growth was greater (12.6%) since import prices fell by 2.9%.

As a result, in November 2015 the trade balance posted a deficit of 1.85 billion euros, 18.9% higher than in the same month of 2014 (deficit of 1.55 billion euros). The coverage rate stood at 92.1%, 0.7 points less than in November 2014 (92.8%, provisional figures). The non-energy balance posted a deficit of 41.9 million euros (surplus of 938.3 million euros in November 2014, provisional figures) and the energy deficit shrank by 27.5%.

All our main partners, except for the UK, increased their exports, albeit to a lesser extent than Spain. Exports from Germany grew by 7.7%, from Italy by 6.4%, and from France by 4.4%. Exports from the UK shrank by 11.7%. In the EU-28 the year-on-year rate of change was a positive 5.2% while in the Eurozone growth was a little stronger (+5.7%). Outside the EU, exports from the USA plummeted by 10.4%, while exports from Japan also fell, albeit to a lesser extent (-3.3%).

Economic sectors

In the month of November, the contributions to export growth came from the following sectors: automotive (a contribution of 4.2 points), capital goods (2.6 points), food, drink and tobacco (1.9 points), and consumer manufactures (1.2 points). Conversely, the only sectors which contributed negatively were energy products (-2.0 points), with a fall of 28.1%, other goods (contribution of -0.6 points), with a 16.3% drop, and commodities (-0.3 points), which shrank by 12.2%.

By subsectors, the main positive contributions came from automobiles and motorcycles (3.3 points, mainly due to stronger sales to Belgium, UK, Italy and Germany); automotive components (0.9 points, to France, UK, Morocco and Romania); fruit, vegetables and legumes (0.8 points to Germany in particular, and to a lesser extent to UK, the Netherlands and France); and clothing (0.7 points, mainly to the UK, Germany and Italy). Conversely, the sectors that most dragged down exports were the subsectors of oil and oil derivates (-1.6 points, mainly due to lower sales to France, USA, Belgium and Taiwan); iron and steel (-0.6 points, to Algeria, Singapore and UK); rail transport equipment (-0.6 points, mainly due to Sweden and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand); and gas (-0.3 points, largely due to South Korea and Turkey).

Geographic areas

In November 2015 exports to the European Union accounted for 66.3% of the total, higher than the 64.7% posted in November of the previous year. This percentage gain was divided between the Eurozone (51.3% versus 51.1% in November 2014) and, to a greater extent, the rest of the European Union (15.0% in November 2015 versus the 13.6% in the same month of the previous year).

Exports to the European Union increased by 11.3% year-on-year and those to the Eurozone grew by 8.9%, while exports to the rest of the European Union grew significantly more strongly, by 20.1%. Among our main partners, note should be taken of export growth to Germany (15.0%), Italy (13.5%) and the UK (31.9%), while exports to France grew less strongly (1.7%).

Exports to countries not belonging to the European Union account for 33.7% of the total (35.3% in November 2014) and grew by 3.7% compared to the same month of the previous year. By regions, exports increased in nearly all of them: Oceania (+23.1%, thanks to a 27.0% increase in exports to Australia), Africa (+12.1%, mainly due to a 29.1% growth in exports to Morocco), Asia excluding the Middle East (+8.3%), the Middle East (+3.4%, due to a 9.0% growth in exports to Saudi Arabia), and Latin America (+0.9%). Conversely exports to North America decreased by 6.5%, on the back of falling exports to USA (-6.9%) and Canada (-3.2%).

The countries with the greatest positive contribution to the year-on-year variation rate of Spanish exports in November 2015 (8.6%) were the UK (2.0 points, mainly due to stronger sales of automobiles and motorcycles and, to a lesser extent, automotive components, engines and road haulage equipment), Germany (1.6 points, due to the growth of exports of automobiles and motorcycles, fruit, vegetables and legumes, electrical appliances, and other capital goods), Italy (1.0 points, mostly due to stronger exports of automobiles and motorcycles, and also due to fishery products, road haulage equipment and medicines), and Morocco (0.6 points, due to higher exports of oil and oil derivates and, to a lesser extent, automotive components).

Conversely, the largest negative contributions came from Ecuador (-0.6 points, due to the lower sales of aircraft, vessels, and oil and oil derivates), USA (-0.3 points, mainly due to a fall in exports of oil and oil derivates and, to a lesser extent, medicines), Taiwan (-0.3 points, almost entirely due to oil and oil derivates), and Brazil (-0.2 points, due to the weaker sales of general use machinery, iron and steel, and electrical appliances).

Spain's trade surplus with the European Union shrank to 554.5 million euros in November 2015 (687.3 million in November 2014). In the Eurozone, the trade balance posted a surplus of 129.5 million euros (619.3 million in November 2014). Meanwhile, the trade deficit with non-EC countries grew by 7.2% versus November 2014, to 2.4 billion euros (versus a deficit of 2.24 billion euros in November 2014).