Spanish exports of goods reached €93,429.5 million, down 9% in the first quarter of the year, with the trade deficit rising by 23.2% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2023, to reach €8,105 million, according to data published on Monday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise.
The behaviour of the trade deficit is mainly due to the reduction of the non-energy surplus, which fell to €8.8 million compared to a surplus of €1,639.3 million in the same period of 2023. For its part, the energy deficit fell to €8,113.9 million, compared to €8,217.6 million in the first quarter of 2023.
The Ministry of Economy has highlighted, however, that despite this increase in the first quarter of 2024, the trade deficit figure is the second smallest since the third quarter of 2021.
According to the foreign trade report, in the first quarter of 2024 Spanish exports of goods reached €93.43 billion, the second highest value in the historical series for this period, despite the 9% drop compared to the same period in 2023.
However, if the base and calendar effects are eliminated, exports fell slightly in the first quarter of 2024 by 3.6% year-on-year.
On the other hand, imports fell by 7.1% and reached €101,534.6 million, the third highest value in the whole series. Nevertheless, the coverage rate stood at 92%, i.e. 2 percentage points lower than that recorded in January-March 2023.
