MADRID, 17 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The trade deficit reached 53,437.1 million euros until September, which means multiplying by four the deficit of 13,267.4 million in the same period of 2021, according to data published this Thursday by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.
This result is a consequence of the 39.8% increase in imports, up to 340,110.5 million euros, a historical maximum, due to the rise in international prices of energy products; while exports rebounded by 24.7%, to 286,673.4 million euros, also a record for the series.
"A similar trend to that of previous months continues, with imports and exports growing at a high year-on-year rate in nominal terms," explained the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, in a statement, in which she also highlighted that the evolution in volume of exports and imports is "very favourable", since it continues to increase.
Specifically, in volume, exports grew by 4.8% year-on-year, since their approximate prices by unit value indices increased by 18.9%, and imports increased by 10.6% year-on-year, due to the fact that their prices they rose 26.4%.
The coverage rate (ratio between exports and imports) stood at 84.3%, that is, 10.3 percentage points less than that registered between January and September 2021.
RISE IN THE ENERGY DEFICIT
The non-energy balance showed a deficit of 13,380.5 million euros, compared to the surplus of 3,125.4 million euros in the same period of 2021, while the energy deficit increased to 40,056.6 million euros, more than double than the amount of 16,392.8 million registered in the same period of the previous year.
The Ministry highlights that the interannual growth of Spanish exports between January and September (24.7%) was higher than that registered in the EU-27 (22.6%) and the Eurozone (22.9%). Also to that registered in Germany (15.0%), France (20.8%), Italy (21.1%) and the United Kingdom (26.3%). Outside of Europe, sales to the US (21.2%), China (13.8%) and Japan (18.0%) also grew.
The main positive contributions to the annual variation rate of exports from January to September 2022 came from the energy products, chemical products, non-chemical semi-manufactured and capital goods sectors. No sector contributed negatively.
SALES ARE GROWING WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE EU
Exports to the European Union (62.3% of the total) increased by 25.9% in the first nine months of the year. Sales to the euro zone (54.7% of the total) grew by 25.2% and those destined for the rest of the European Union (7.6% of the total) increased by 31.4%.
Similarly, sales to third destinations (37.7% of the total) also increased by 22.7% in this period, with increases in exports to Latin America (31.4%), North America (29.7%) , the Middle East (26.5%), Africa (19.5%) and Asia excluding the Middle East (6.7%).
Regarding the data by autonomous communities, the regions with the highest growth in their exports were the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and the Community of Madrid.
SEPTEMBER DATA
In the month of September, the trade deficit stood at 6,976 million euros, which means multiplying by three the amount of 2,396 million in the same month of 2021.
Spanish merchandise exports increased by 22.2% over the same month in 2021, to 34,621 million euros, while imports rose 35.4% in year-on-year terms, to 41,597 million euros.
"The persistence of high international prices for energy products explains why the deficit continues to be high," Méndez indicated.
