In November, with trade data announced from Customs, Spain’s merchandise exports increased 22.6% over the same month of 2020, to 30.309 million euros, an all-time high for each month.

The Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, highlighted that “in November 2021, both exports and imports continued to grow strongly, setting new all-time highs. Foreign trade is once again the engine of economic growth and job creation, thanks to our exporting companies, which are highly competitive and well positioned in international markets”.

Imports rose 36.3% year-on-year to 34,516 million euros, also an all-time high. As a result, a deficit of €4,207 million was recorded in November 2021 (a deficit of €593 million in November 2020 with provisional data). The coverage rate was 87.8%, 9.8 percentage points lower than in November 2020.

If the degree of variation is calculated with respect to November 2019 (interim data), exports grew by 20.9% and imports by 28.2% (17.3% and 23.2%, respectively, seasonally adjusted series and corrected for effects calendar).

The increase in exports in November from Spain (22.6%) was larger than that recorded by the eurozone (18.0%) and the European Union-27 (17.4%). Among the major European economies, exports from Italy (16.8%), Germany (12.1% year-on-year), France (12.8%) and the UK (5.6%) also grew. Worldwide, exports from the United States increased by 23.5% year-on-year, China by 16.6% year-on-year and Japan by 20.5% year-on-year.

The main positive contribution to the annual variation in exports came from the energy products sector (a contribution of 6.2 points), chemical products (a contribution of 6.0 points), non-chemical semi-manufacturing (a contribution of 3.8 points) and food and beverages. and tobacco (3.2 points contribution).

Cumulative data January-November

Spanish merchandise exports rose 21.2% in the January-November period compared to the same period a year earlier (according to preliminary data) and reached 288,991 million euros. Imports rose 23.6% to 309.827 million euros.

As a result, the trade deficit for the first eleven months of the year stood at 20,836 million euros, 68.7% higher than that recorded in the same period in 2020. The coverage rate – the ratio between exports and imports – was 93.3% (95.1% in January-November 2020).

Spain’s export growth year-on-year between January and November (21.2%) was higher than that recorded in the EU-27 and the eurozone (in both cases, 16.7% year-on-year). Also registered in Italy (18.4%), France (14.9%), Germany (13.8%) and the UK (8.3%).

The main positive contribution to the annual variation in exports from January to November 2021 came from the chemical products sector (a contribution of 4.7 points), non-chemical semi-manufacturers (a contribution of 3.5 points), energy products (a contribution of 3.1 points) and capital goods. (contribution 2.9 points). There is no sector that makes a negative contribution.