Exports by internationalized industrial firms up 9.2% in 2017

Exports by internationalized industrial companies rose 9.2% in 2017, says the association that represents industrial firms with an international profile, Amec. In its annual report published on Wednesday, Amec said the upturn in sales is due to the “improved performance” of demand from abroad and the efforts companies are making to innovate.

In fact, the report shows that up to 70% of these firms increased their exports last year, to more than 5.4 billion euros. Nevertheless, the rising trend in exports has now stabilized, meaning that exports make up, on average, 57.1% of turnover, the same as last year, which is also due to an improvement in internal demand, says Amec.

Despite the positive figures both domestically and internationally, the association warns that the recovery has been less favorable than expected. While companies ended 2017 with good results, for 19% of them the results were worse than the year before. Yet, forecasts for 2018 are “clearly optimistic" and Amec says 80% of firms expect to increase sales abroad this year, with estimated growth of 9.9%.