The Spanish economy recorded a non-energy trade surplus of 958 million euros in June, the highest in the last 16 months

The Spanish foreign trade sector continued to show signs of resilience in June in the complex international context, as reflected in the trade data declared by Customs and collected in the Monthly Report on Foreign Trade from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, prepared by the Secretary of State for Trade.

Exports for the month of June exceeded 32.968 billion euros, the second highest value in the historical series for a month of June, which is 3% down on the same month of the previous year. However, in seasonally adjusted terms and adjusted for the calendar effect, they grew by 3.2% year-on-year. The calendar effect has had a negative impact this year: June 2024 had two fewer working days than June 2023.

Imports amounted to 33.681 billion euros, down 7.3% year-on-year.

In terms of international comparisons, Spanish exports of goods in June showed greater strength than those of the eurozone and the EU-27, which recorded gross falls of 7.4% and 7.3%, respectively. Among the major EU economies, exports from Germany (-8.3%), France (-6.9%) and Italy (-6.1%) also fell. Outside the European Union, exports from the United Kingdom decreased 10.3% year-on-year, while those from the United States increased 4.3% year-on-year, from China by 10.7% year-on-year and from Japan by 5.4% year-on-year.

This strength of the Spanish foreign sector is also reflected in the reduction of the trade deficit to 712.9 million euros in June, which represents a fall of 70% compared to the same month of the previous year (2.355 billion in June 2023).

It is very significant that for the second consecutive month a non-energy surplus of 958.9 million euros has been recorded, the highest in the last 16 months, and the energy deficit has reduced 21.4% year-on-year to 1.671 billion. In addition, energy exports grew 27.7% year-on-year in June, the third consecutive month with growth of more than 20%, thanks mainly to the good performance of exports of oil and petroleum products.

In addition, the coverage ratio (ratio of exports to imports as a percentage) improved by 4.4 percentage points to 97.9%.

By sector, the surpluses in food, beverages and tobacco (1.605 billion euros), the automobile sector (770.2 million) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (647.1 million) stood out.

The trade surplus with the European Union increased to 4.037 billion euros (compared to a surplus of 1.874 billion euros in June 2023). With the eurozone, the surplus increased to 3.917 billion euros (compared to a surplus of 2.286 billion euros in the same month of the previous year). The trade deficit with non-EU destinations widened to 4.750 billion euros (deficit of 4.230 billion euros in June 2023). The destination markets where the largest surpluses were achieved were France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Diversification of markets and sectors

In June, the sectors with the largest positive contributions to the annual rate of change of exports (-3%) were: energy products (1.7 percentage points), raw materials (0.3 points) and other goods (0.1 points).

By destination market, exports to the EU27 accounted for 63% of the total. Record figures for the month were achieved in seven EU destinations: Ireland, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia and Cyprus.

Exports to non-EU destinations accounted for 37% of total exports. Record highs were achieved for the month in key markets for Spain such as the UK and Australia.

Foreign trade data for the first half of 2024

In the cumulative year to June 2024, exports of goods reached 195.105 billion, the second-best figure in the historical series for the same period (2.4% less than the same period of the previous year). Imports recorded 210.927 billion euros (2.5% less than in the same period of the previous year).

The trade deficit decreased 3.6% to 15.822 billion euros. The non-energy balance was very close to the balance point, with a deficit of only 138.4 million euros, while the energy deficit decreased 6.1% to 15.684 billion euros. The coverage ratio improved 0.1 percentage points to 92.5%.

The sectors with the largest surpluses were food, beverages and tobacco (10.609 billion euros), the automotive sector (4.845 billion euros) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (3.507 billion euros).

By geographical area, exports to the EU-27 accounted for 62.5% of the total, while non-EU destinations accounted for 37.5% of the total.

A surplus of 18.018 billion euros was recorded with the EU in the period, while the trade deficit with non-EU countries fell to 33.840 billion euros. The countries against which the Spanish economy recorded the largest surpluses were: France (12.165 billion euros), Portugal (7.196 billion euros) and the United Kingdom (7.106 billion euros).

By autonomous community, the ones with the highest growth in exports were the Canary Islands (24.2% YoY), followed by Extremadura (14%) and Castilla y León (8.4%).

The number of regular exporters - those that have exported more than 1,000 euros in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years - grew by 4.8% in the first four months of 2024 to 43,281 exporters. The export value of these was 187.510 billion euros, representing 96.1% of the total, and 0.7% more than in the same period of the previous year.

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