Catalan exports increase by 9.2% between January and April

Catalan exports increased by 9.2% in April compared to January and reached 5.5 billion euros, according to data released today by the Spanish ministry of economy, industry and competitiveness, but dropped by 2.7% compared to April 2016. Catalan exports are 25.3% of Spanish exports overall although Catalonia makes up 16% of the population. The first four months of 2017 mark the best ever start of a year with 23.15 billion euros on aggregate. 

Catalonia leads the Spanish exports ranking by a wide margin doubling the weight of the second region, Madrid, which contributes with 11.6% of the overall. The capital area region is followed by the southern region of Andalusia (11.3%). The data also show that imports in Catalonia experienced a year-to-year decrease of 5%. Its trade deficit is 766 million, 18% less than April 2016 and 6.5% less than January 2017.

According to the April data, over a quarter of the total sales abroad (25.5%) are chemical products, whereas industrial equipment is the second most important sector in this field with 17.3%. The automobile sector comes in third representing 14.5% of the total export weight. By Catalan regions, Tarragona and Lleida lead with 5.8% and 2.7% year-to-year increases in exports respectively. Girona and Barcelona experienced a slight drop but at the same time increased their export values compared with the data from January 2017.