The foreign sector continues to show strong dynamism, growing by 2.3% in May, compared to the declines in the main European economies and the EU as a whole. The trade deficit fell by 25% in May, compared with the same month of the previous year.
Spanish exports of goods continue to rise and reached 34,716.4 million euros in May 2024, the second highest value in the historical series for May. This represents an increase of 2.3% year-on-year.
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The Spanish economy records a non-energy trade surplus of 630 million euros, its highest level in the last 15 months
For their part, imports reached 37,065.1 million euros and remained stable concerning the same month of the previous year. This is reflected in the trade data declared by Customs and included in the Monthly Foreign Trade Report of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, prepared by the Secretary of State for Trade.
Spain’s foreign trade is more dynamic than that of the main neighbouring economies, with Spanish companies well positioned in international markets. Thus, the growth of Spanish exports in May contrasts with the falls recorded by the European Union-27 (-3.5% year-on-year), the Eurozone (-3.0%) and other European partners such as Germany (-3.8%), France (-5.9%) and Italy (-1.7%). Outside the European Union, exports from the United Kingdom fell by 14.7% year-on-year, while those from the United States grew by 3.7% year-on-year, China by 11.2% year-on-year and Japan by 13.5% year-on-year.
This stronger export performance caused the trade deficit to fall by 25% compared to the same month of the previous month, to 2,348.7 million euros. It is worth noting that May saw the highest non-energy surplus in the last 15 months, standing at 629.6 million euros.
By sectors, the surpluses in food, beverages and tobacco (1,947.8 million euros), the automobile sector (1,121.2 million euros) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (699.7 million euros) stood out.
With the European Union, the trade surplus increased to 3,381.1 million euros (surplus of 3,314.2 million euros in May 2023). The trade deficit with non-EU destinations decreased to 5,729.7 million euros (deficit of 6,425.7 million euros in May 2023). The destination markets where the largest surpluses have been achieved were France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
The coverage rate stood at 93.7%, i.e. 2.1 percentage points higher than in May last year.
Diversification of markets and sectors
In May, the sectors with the highest positive contributions to the annual rate of change of exports (+ 2.3%) were: energy products (2 percentage points), food, beverages and tobacco (1.6 points), consumer manufactures (0.4 points) and raw materials (0.3 points). Highs for the month of May were reached in the food, beverages and tobacco sector (9.1% year-on-year growth) and the automobile sector (1.5% year-on-year).
By destination markets, exports to the EU-27 accounted for 59.7% of the total. Record figures for the month were reached in 9 EU destinations, including Italy, Poland and Greece.
Exports to non-EU destinations grew by 10.2%, accounting for 40.3% of total exports. Record highs were achieved for the month in markets of great importance for Spain, such as the United Kingdom, Morocco, Turkey and Mexico.
Foreign trade data from January to May 2024
In the accumulated year to May 2024, exports of goods reached 162,136.7 million euros, the second-best figure in the historical series for the same period (2.3% less than the same period of the previous year). On the other hand, imports amounted to more than 177,246 million euros (1.5% less than in the same period of the previous year).
The energy balance continued to fall slightly in the first five months of the year and stood at 14,012.2 million euros (compared with an energy deficit of 14,576.6 million euros in the same period in 2023). In total, the trade balance recorded a deficit of 15,109.6 million euros.
The sectors with the largest surpluses were: food, beverages and tobacco (9,003.3 million euros), the automotive sector (4,075.0 million) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (2,860.7 million).
By geographical area, exports to the European Union-27 accounted for 62.4% of the total, while 37.6% of the total went to non-EU destinations.
A surplus of 13,980.5 million euros was recorded with the European Union in the period, while the trade deficit with non-EU countries fell to 29,090.0 million euros. The countries with the largest surpluses were: France (10,126.6), the United Kingdom (5,887.8) and Portugal (5,865).
By autonomous communities, the ones with the highest growth in exports were the Canary Islands (17.7%), followed by Extremadura (16.3%) and Castile and Leon (11.3%).
The number of regular exporters, those who have exported more than 1,000 euros in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years, grew by 4.9% in the period from January to May 2024 to 42,335 exporters. These exporters exported 155,889.8 million euros, 96.1% of the total and 0.7% more than in the same period of the previous year.