High-level technology exports reach €1.8bn

Catalan exports for industrial products of all levels of technology have increased in the second quarter of 2017. Specifically, high-level technological products reached a value of €1,856.2 million. This amount is almost the same as that of the previous quarter, and shows an inter-annual growth of 2.7%, according to data from the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (Idescat).

The increase is due to rising sales of said products to countries inside the European Union, at 7.2%; meanwhile, sales to the rest of the world have dropped by -1.6%. Exports have grown for computer, electronic, and optical products, which are up by 14.3%, while pharmaceutical products have decreased by 1%.

All levels of exports see an increase

Medium-to-high level industrial product sales have increased by an inter-annual 1.9% in the second quarter of 2017, reaching a value of €8,172.4 million. This growth can be explained through an increase in sales for chemical products, measured at 12.6% higher. Simultaneously, exports of electrical, machinery and automobile products decreased by -3.9%. Geographically, there is a slight decrease in sales with the European Union (-0.1%) while those destined to the rest of the world have instead gone up by 6.6%.

Products of medium-to-low levels, with a value of €2,616.5 million, have seen the highest growth in exterior sales: the increase represents an inter-annual spike of 20.3%. Exports to countries outside the European Union are also high, at a 29.5%, while those to destinations outside of the EU stands at 16.7%.

Lastly, exports for products of low technology value at €4,513.6 million, seeing an increase of 6.6%, in relation to the second quarter of last year. Within the EU, the increase in sales has been 8.2%, while sales to countries in the rest of the world has gone up by 3.4%.

Imports also high

In the second quarter of 2017, purchases of high technological content from abroad reached a value of €2,274.8 million, representing an inter-annual growth of 4%. Specifically, purchases from countries outside of the European Union have increased the most (at 7.4%), while those from EU countries have gone up by 1.4%.

Purchases of products of all other levels have also increased, except for products of medium-to-high technological content. In this case, purchases from abroad concerning medium-to-high level products have decreased by 1%, due to a decline in imports from the EU (representing a decrease of -3.2%). Concurrently, purchases in the rest of the world have increased by 4.2%.