Luis Alcaide | In the past month of December, exports increased by 2.7% year-on-year, while for the entire year of 2024, they grew a modest 0.2%. Exports did not decline for the whole year, but their value in euros also did not advance; they practically remained stagnant. The total figures for 2024 amounted to €384.465 billion, lower than the €387.599 billion reached in 2022. This decrease in export volumes is primarily due to the performance of sales to the European Union, which account for almost two-thirds of the total and decreased by 0.7% in euros last year. On the import side, there was a year-on-year decline of 4.7% recorded last December; however, for the entire year of 2024, imports advanced by 0.1% compared to the previous year (0.5% in real terms), reaching €424 billion. Therefore, Spain’s trade deficit stands at €40 billion.
The stagnation of Spanish exports last year, with an increase of 0.2%, outperformed Germany’s results, where exports fell by 1.3%, as well as declines of 1.6% in France and 0.5% in the UK. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is following different paths: exports from the United States increased by 2.3%, those from China by 7.1%, and those from Japan by 6.2%. The result of the balance of goods, services, and capital, according to figures for the past third quarter, shows a surplus of €58.641 billion, equivalent to 4.2% of Spain’s GDP—a solid bastion representing Spain’s international solvency.
The distribution by exporting sectors in 2024 continues to indicate machinery and equipment goods, accounting for 19.4% of the total, as the leading exporting activity, closely followed by food products at 18.7%. Automobiles have dropped to fourth place, surpassed by chemical products. On the import side, capital goods, which make up 22.7% of the total, are in the lead, well ahead of energy products at 13.8% of imports.
