Ls imports increased 0.2% to 52,759 million euros, also a record high. As a result, the trade deficit in the first two months of the year reached 5,625 million euros, 20.9% less than that registered in the same period of 2019.
For the Secretary of State for Trade, Xiana Méndez, "these data confirm that the foreign sector started 2020 in a good situation. The data from March will inevitably begin to reflect the impact of Covid19 and our foreign sector will be intensely affected, but part of a solid base to contribute to recovery when the initial impact of the health crisis is overcome. "
The coverage rate – ratio of exports to imports – stood at 89.3% (86.5% in January-February 2019 with provisional data). In terms of volume, exports increased 2.5%, as prices, approximated by the Unit Value Indices, rose 1.0%. Imports decreased 2.4%, as prices rose 2.7%.
The non-energy balance showed a deficit of 1,551.7 million euros (a deficit of 2,313.5 million euros in the accumulated until February 2019, provisional data), while the energy deficit decreased 15.1%, to 4,073 million euros (deficit of 4,797.6 million in 2019).
The growth of Spanish exports between January and February (3.5%) contrasts with that of the environment: in the euro area it has remained the same (0.0%) and in the EU-27 it has grown slightly (0.5%). Among the main European economies, exports from France decreased (-4.2%), the United Kingdom (-4.4%) and Germany (-0.8%) while they increased in Italy (4.7%). In the rest of the world, US sales grew (0.3%) but those of China (-17.2%) and Japan (-1.7%) decreased.
The main positive contributions of exports from January to February 2020 came from the food, beverages and tobacco sector (contribution of 1.4 points), energy products (contribution of 1.2 points), automobile sector (contribution of 0.7 points) and other merchandise (contribution of 0.5 points). The only negative contributions by sector came from raw materials (contribution of -0.5 points), non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of -0.3 points) and capital goods (contribution of -0.1 points).
Regarding imports, the main positive contributions in the January-February period came from the food, beverages and tobacco sectors (contribution of 0.5 points), consumer manufactures (contribution of 0.4 points), chemical products ( contribution of 0.3 points) and capital goods (contribution of 0.2 points). The largest negative contributions came from the raw materials sector (contribution of -0.5 points), non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of -0.4 points), energy products (contribution of -0.3 points) and the automobile sector (contribution of – 0.1 points).
Exports to the EU-27 (60.5% of the total) increased by 4.6% year-on-year in the first two months of the year. Sales to the euro area (52.7% of the total) rose 4.7% and sales to the rest of the European Union (7.8% of the total) rose 3.8%.
Sales to third destinations (39.5% of the total) rose 1.9% year-on-year in this period, with increases in exports to North America (9.7%), Asia excluding the Middle East (7.8%) and the Middle East (0.1%). In contrast, those destined for Oceania (-13.3%), Latin America (-7.4%) and Africa (-3.6%) decreased.
The Autonomous Communities with the highest growth in exports were Extremadura (36.3%), Illes Balears (26.9%) and Canarias (23.6%). On the other hand, the greatest decreases were in the Basque Country (-3.4%), Andalusia (-1%) and the Valencian Community (-0.1%).
Data for the month of February
In February, Spanish merchandise exports rose 4.2% over the same month of 2019, to 23,992 million euros. Imports increased 1.8% year-on-year to 26,109 million euros.
As a result, in February 2020 there was a deficit of 2,117.1 million euros, 19.4% less than in the same month of 2019. The coverage rate stood at 91.9%, 2.1 percentage points more than in February 2019. With the seasonally adjusted and calendar effect corrected series, exports increased 6.0% year-on-year and imports increased 3.7%.
The non-energy balance showed a deficit of 256.5 million euros (deficit of 433.1 million euros in February 2019, provisional data) and the energy deficit was reduced by 15.2%.
The rise in exports in Spain in February (4.2%) is higher than that registered in the EU-27 (1.0%) and in the euro area (0.6%).
By sector, the main contributions to export growth came from food, beverages and tobacco (contribution of 1.4 points), automobile sector (contribution of 1.4 points), other merchandise (contribution of 0.5 points) and goods equipment (contribution of 0.5 points) In contrast, the sectors with the largest negative contributions were non-chemical semi-manufactures (contribution of -0.2 points) and chemical products (contribution of -0.1 points).
In February 2020, exports in the EU-27 and the euro area increased slightly (1.0% and 0.6% respectively). Among the main European partners, exports from Italy (7.0%) and Germany (0.4%) also increased, in contrast to the declines of the United Kingdom (-7.2%) and France (-3.2% ). Outside Europe, exports from the United States grew (1.1% year-on-year) and those from Japan decreased (-1.0%).
