Exports from the A.C. of the Basque Country registered a 2.1% increase in the first quarter of 2005, according to EUSTAT data. The total amount of exports over the first three months of the year came to 3,217.6 million euros, compared to 3,150.3 million the year before.

Imports accumulated a figure of 3,423.1 million euros in the first quarter of the year, surpassing by 28.7% the figure for imports in the same period in 2004.

Leaving to one side the incidence of Energy products, the differences between the rates of inter-annual production of the exports and imports of non-energy products were tempered slightly, coming to 6.2% for the former and 22.3% for the latter.

The total volume of foreign transactions, the sum of exports and imports, rose from 5,810.4 million the first quarter of 2004 to 6,640.7 million this year, registering 14.3% growth, in inter-annual terms.

The foreign trade balance shows, for the first time since 1992, a trade deficit of 205.5 million euros, although a year before there was a trade surplus of 490.1 million. Therefore, the coverage rate of exports on imports fell to 94.0%, when a year before it stood at 118.4%.

If the analysis is limited to Non-energy products, the trade balance presents a surplus of 657.2 million and the coverage rate is 126.7%, although both indices have fallen with regard to the levels a year before.

Exports destined to the European Union registered 15.4% growth and a great boost to this evolution came from exports to Germany (37.8%), the UK (45.2%), Italy (19.1%) and Portugal (12.9%), the most relevant, while exports to France, our main client, only rose by 0.3%.

Imports from the European Union grew by 21.3%, six percent more than exports, exports from France increasing 11.3%, those from Germany rose 56.7%, exports from the UK also rose 10.5% and those from Italy went up 4.8%, these being among the most important.

Of the three most important import tariff sections, one, Metals and their manufactures increased sales abroad by 23.6%, while the sales of the other two, Electric Material and Transport Material fell by 2.7% and 0.1%, respectively. With regard to imports, however, these three import tax sections accumulated important inter-annual growth: Transport Material (78.2%), Metals and their manufactures (42.4%) and Electric Material (7.8%). Mineral and Energy Products should not be forgotten, as a result of the rise in oil prices (one of the main factors), suffered an inter-annual rise of 48.7%.

The inter-annual evolution of foreign trade varied in the three provinces of the A.C. of the Basque Country. Exports from Araba grew 37.5%, boosted by Transport Material (102.8%) and Metals and their manufactures (30.4%). Exports from Gipuzkoa increased by 14.2%, thanks to the boost in Transport Material (35.5%), Metals and their manufactures (20.0%) and Electric Material (9.0%). Sales to foreign markets from Bizkaia fell by 21.6%, due mainly to two import tax tariff sections, Mineral Products (-56.0%) and Transport Material (-66.2%). Imports from Bizkaia grew by 33.7%, from Alava by 31.6% and from Gipuzkoa by 15.6%, Araba and Gipuzkoa obtaining a positive trade balance and Bizkaia a deficit in this first quarter of 2005.