Exports of chemical products increased by 3.5% over the figure for 2014 and sales of capital goods (2.5%), automobile (6.8%), food (3.6%) and manufactured consumer goods (6.7%) also grew compared to 2013 data.
According to the Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), in 2014, the value of exports of Catalan goods stood at 60,194.5 million euros, representing an increase of 3.1% compared to 2013. Catalan foreign sales account for 25.1% of total exports from Spain, which altogether also progressed 2.5% compared to the whole of the previous year, reaching 240,034.9 million euros.
Exports of energy products (2009.7 million euros) increased by 12.5%, while foreign sales of non-energy products (58184.8 million euros) rose 2.9%.
Meanwhile, 2014 imports recorded an increase of 7.9% reaching the value of 71,890.1 million euros. Foreign purchases from outside Catalonia account for 27.2% of total Spanish imports, which in turn grew 5.7%, reaching 264,506.7 million euros.
Imports of energy products (9021.1 million euros) grew 5.1%, while non-energy products (62.869 million euros) rose 8.3%.
By provinces, exports from Barcelona and Girona grew by 3.9% and 2.9%, respectively, compared to the previous year, while sales outside Lleida and Tarragona fell by 1.9% and 0.4 %, respectively.
As for imports, purchases from Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona grew with increases of 9.4%, 5.0% and 2.4%, respectively, whereas those from Lleida fell by 1.9%.
By productive sector, exports of chemicals, the leading export sector in Catalonia, with a 26.6% share of the total, rose 3.5% with respect to the figure for 2014. Sales of capital goods ( 17.4% of the total), automobile (15.3% of the total), food (13.3% of the total) and manufactured consumer goods (12.6% of total) also grew, recording increases of 2.5%, 6.8%, 3.6% and 6.7%, respectively, compared to 2013 data.
On the other hand, exports of non-chemical semi-manufactured goods (-1.0%), raw materials (-0.2%) and other goods (-34.8%) dropped.
As for imports, all the sectors increased with the exception of other goods (-40.2% de). The salient findings correspond to chemical products (+ 6.6%), capital goods (+ 8.4%), manufactured consumer goods (+ 12.7%), the automobile sector (+ 11.0%), energy products (+ 5.1%) and food (+ 6.4%) for shares of 22.4%, 16.3%, 14.0%, 11.7%, 12.5% and 12.2%, respectively, of total Catalan imports.
If the data are considered by geographic area, exports to the European Union (64.7% of total Catalan foreign sales) increased 6.3%; amongst these, the Eurozone (52.5% of total) increased by 5.3%. Sales to France, Catalonia’s leading customer, with a 16.4%share of total Catalan exports over this period, remained practically stable (+ 0.3%) and those to Germany (11.5 % of total) rose 6%; the increase in exports to the UK (14.5%), Portugal (13.1%), Italy (6.1%), Poland (17.8%) and Greece (38.2%) over the year before also stand out.
Sales to countries outside the EU, accounting for 35.3% of the total, decreased 2.2% overall, but it is worth noting sales to Asia (9.4% of the total) which grew 6.6 %. The best performances were recorded in exports to the Middle East, with an increase of 11.1%, and Saudi Arabia with 21.6%, Japan, which rose 19.6%, and South Korea with 60.1% standing out.
Sales also grew on the African continent (6.7% of the total) rising 5.2%, particularly to Morocco, with an increase of 3.1%.
Moreover, sales to America as a whole (representing 9.8% of the total) also rose 0.6%. Sales to Latin America (6.4% of the total) fell 2.2%, although the figure recorded with Mexico was positive (+ 15.5%).
Regarding imports from the European Union (59.2% of the total), these increased by 8.5%; amongst these, imports from the Eurozone (48.4% of the total) grew by 7.9%.
Imports from Germany and France (the main suppliers with weights in total Catalan foreign purchases of 17.3% and 10.5%, respectively) recorded positive year-on-year changes of 13.1% and 5.6%, respectively.
Imports from countries outside the European Union (40.8% of the total) showed a rise of 7.0%.
Source and photo: BCL
