SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE/MADRID, 18 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Merchandise exports in the Canary Islands increased by 90.4% in February, with 227.9 million euros, which places the Archipelago as the Autonomous Community that experienced the highest rate of interannual variation in its exports.
Imports, meanwhile, reached 360 million euros, which represents a year-on-year increase of 136.6%, the second largest increase in the country. Meanwhile, the trade deficit in the Islands stood at 132.1 million euros, 32.4 less.
In the first two months of the year, Canarian merchandise exports increased by 75.2%, to 460.3 million euros. For its part, imports rose by 106.4, to 643.1 million euros. The trade deficit in that period fell by 48.9%, standing at 182.9 million euros.
At the national level, the trade deficit stood at 10,774.7 million euros in the first two months of the year, which means multiplying by almost four (+278%) that registered in the same period of 2021, according to data published this Monday by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.
The report on foreign trade for February reflects that the energy deficit reached 6,984.5 million euros, twice as much as in the same period of 2021 (3,110.4 million), while the non-energy deficit stood at 3,790.2 million euros. euros, compared to the surplus of 259.5 million the previous year.
Spanish merchandise exports increased by 28.3% up to February, with 56,521.1 million euros, an all-time high for this period. Imports, for their part, also reached a historical maximum, with 67,295.8 million euros, which represents a year-on-year increase of 43.5%.
All in all, the coverage rate – the ratio between exports and imports – stood at 84%. In terms of volume, exports rose by 11.1%, since prices, approximated by the Unit Value Indices, increased by 15.5%, while imports increased by 16.9%, after raising prices by 22.7%.
According to the Secretary of State for Trade, if the results are compared internationally, the accumulated data for Spain show a greater growth in exports than that registered in Germany (12.8% year-on-year) and France (23.0%) . Outside the European Union, exports from the United States (18.4% year-on-year), China (13.6%), Japan (14.4%) and the United Kingdom (19.3%) also grew.
“Exports and imports continue to grow strongly in February. It stands out that trade is growing faster in Spain than in many of the main economies around us,” said the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez.
CHEMICAL PRODUCTS, ENERGY AND NON-CHEMICAL SEMI-MANUFACTURES
The main positive contributions of exports from January to February 2022 came from the sector of chemical products (contribution of 8.2 points), energy products (contribution of 6.1 points), non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of 4.4 points) and food, beverages and tobacco (contribution of 2.8 points). However, no sector contributed negatively.
Regarding imports, the main positive contributions in the January-February period came from the sectors of energy products (contribution of 14 points), chemical products (contribution of 9.4 points), capital goods (contribution of 4.9 points) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of 4.8 points). As in exports, no sector contributed negatively.
SALES TO THE EU AND EURO ZONE GROW BY AROUND 30%
Exports to the European Union in January and February 2022 accounted for 63% of the total, after advancing 31.7% compared to the same period of the previous year. In the case of sales to the euro zone (55.5% of the total), they increased by 32.3%, while those destined for the rest of the European Union (7.5% of the total) increased by 27.3 %.
By country, the cumulative increase up to February in exports to Portugal (48.2%), Italy (27%), France (21.2%) and Germany (10.3%) stands out. In the rest of Europe, sales to Turkey increased by 24.3% and sales to the United Kingdom increased by 26.6%.
Exports to third destinations rose by 23.1% year-on-year in this period, accounting for 37% of the total, highlighting the growth in exports to North America (33.8%), Latin America (32.2%), Africa (24.7%), the Middle East (11.6%) and Asia excluding the Middle East (0.6%), compared to the decline in Oceania (-6.1%)
By country, the increases in Argentina (74.7%), South Korea (35.8%), Algeria (35.2%), Mexico (35.1%), the United States (35.0%) stood out positively. , Japan (30.9%), Morocco (30.0%) and Canada (25.5%), and negatively Vietnam (-20.1%), China (-20.0%), Hong-Kong (- 11.2%), Peru (-8.3%), Egypt (-7.0%), Australia (-5.6%), Nigeria (-3.3%) and Taiwan (-2.9%) .
All in all, the trade surplus with the European Union widened to 5,248.3 million euros in the period (2,324.2 million euros in January-February 2021). The surplus with the euro zone grew to 5,760.3 million euros (3,019.6 million euros in the same period of the previous year). On the other hand, with respect to non-EU countries, the trade deficit increased to 16,023 million, compared to 5,175.1 million euros in the same period of 2021.
CANARY ISLANDS, MADRID AND ASTURIAS, WHERE EXPORTS GROW THE MOST
By autonomous communities, the community that experienced a higher interannual variation rate of its exports in the period was Canarias (75.2%), followed by the Community of Madrid (64.4%) and the Principality of Asturias (36.6 %).
In the analysis of the contributions to the interannual variation rate of total exports (28.3%), the community with the greatest positive contribution was the Community of Madrid, with 6.8 percentage points, whose exports represented 13.6 % of the total and grew by 64.4% year-on-year. It was followed by Catalonia, with a contribution of 4.8 points and whose exports, 24.3% of the total, increased by 18.2% year-on-year.
REGULAR EXPORTERS GROW
Regarding exporter data, in the analyzed period a total of 48,421 exporters of more than 1,000 euros were recorded, 6.2% more than in the same period of the previous year. Of these, 24,180 exported 50,000 or more euros, worth 56,223.3 million euros, which represents 99.47% of total exports and 28.5% more than in the same period of the previous year.
In reference to regular exporters of more than 1,000 euros, those who have exported in the accumulated of the reference year and in each of the three preceding full years, 33,735 exporters were recorded in the period January-February 2022, which means 43.7% of the total and 5.8% more than in the same period of the previous year.
In total, they exported for a value of 51,792.0 million euros, 91.6% of the total and 26% more than in the same period of the previous year.
DATA FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY
In the month of February, Spanish merchandise exports rose by 27.1% over the same month of 2021, to 29,920 million, an all-time high for a month of February. Imports increased by 38.8% in year-on-year terms, to 34,172 million, also a record high for the month. As a result, in February 2022 a deficit of 4,252 million was recorded.
“85% of the deficit in February 2022 is explained by the energy deficit, which has more than doubled compared to February 2021 due to the recovery in demand for fuels and the notable increase in their prices”, explained Xiana Méndez.
