Catalan exports in May grow by almost 27% year-on-year to €8.6bn

Catalonia's exports in May grew by 26.9% year-on-year to €8.61bn according to figures from Spain's Industry, Commerce, and Tourism Industry Ministry which were made public on Monday morning.

This represents a 25.9% increase on pre-pandemic sales for the same month in 2019.

Catalan exports account for just under a quarter – 24.6% – of Spain's total, which grew by 28.8% year-on-year to €35.045bn, 31.3% more than in 2019. 

The biggest sectors for sales abroad were, once again, chemical products (32.2% of all Catalan exports), capital goods (16.3%), as well as food, beverages, and tobacco (14.6%). 

Companies in the Barcelona area account for most of Catalonia's exports in May –  €6.73bn of the total – 27.4% more than a year ago and almost a fifth of Spain's total sales abroad for that month. 

Other parts of Catalonia have also seen significant year-on-year growth: 21.8% in Girona to €683.3m, 41.8% in Lleida to €252.5m, and 23.9% in Tarragona to €945.9m.