Exports from the A.C. of the Basque Country obtained 9.6% nominal growth in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to EUSTAT data. They totalled 3,832.5 million euros in the last quarter of 2005, bettering the figure of 3,496.5 million in exports from the last three months of 2004 by 336 million.

Total imports came to 3,789.2 million, registering 9.7% inter-annual growth, but non-energy imports decreased by 3.2%.

The trade balance (exports minus imports) improved slightly on its previous position, rising from the figure of 41.9 million a year earlier to 43.2 million in the fourth quarter of last year. However, the coverage rate of exports over imports lost point one per cent; it had been 101.2% in the last quarter of 2004 and came to 101.1% in the same quarterly period of 2005.

The non-energy trade balance came to 938.3 million (3,518.5 million non-energy exports less 2,580.2 million non-energy imports), compared to 653.1 million a year earlier and the coverage rate for these transactions went from 124.5% to 136.4% in the fourth quarter of last year.

The inter-annual variation for exports destined for the European Union was positive, at 3.1%, with growth for those heading for France (1.9%), Italy (33.0%), Portugal (2.3%) and Belgium (18.5%), but a setback in sales to Germany (-13.7%) and the United Kingdom (-25,2%) in particular. Exports to the USA experienced 39.6% growth.

Imports coming from the European Union reduced in value by 0.6%, especially those from the Netherlands (-20.6%) and to a lesser extent those from France (-1.6%), although those from Germany increased by 3.6%.

The trade balance with the European Union showed improvement, going from 497.9 million a year earlier to 585.2 million in the last quarter of 2005 and the coverage of exports over imports in relation to this trade area rose from 125.1% to 129.7%. The trade balance and the coverage rate with the USA also made a substantial rise in this fourth quarter.

The two major duty tariff groups, Capital Goods and Metal and Manufactured contributed to the growth of quarterly exports; the former grew by 5.7% and the latter by 6.3%.

Imports of Energy Products increased by 53.4%, those of Metal and Manufactured fell by 15.6% and those of Capital Goods showed a rising inter-annual pattern of 2.5%.

The largest growth in exports as regards provinces took place in Bizkaia with 15.0%, thanks to the contribution of Energy Products (80.0%) and Metal and Manufactured (9.7%). Exports from Gipuzkoa grew by 8.2% during this fourth quarter, with a 14.8% rise for exports of Capital Goods. Exports from Álava registered more moderate quarterly growth of 4.5%, where sales of Metal and Manufactured stood out (15.9%)

Annual Balance for 2005

In 2005 exports from the A.C. of the Basque Country obtained 5.2% growth.

Exports from the A.C. of the Basque Country totalled 14,225.3 million euros in 2005 as a whole, surpassing those recorded for the previous year by 5.2%. Total imports grew by 16.2% over the year, although non-energy exports rose by 5.0% and non-energy imports by 5.2%.

For 2005 as a whole, the greatest growth in exports corresponded to Gipuzkoa, with a 12.7% positive annual variation, evolving much more modestly in Bizkaia (1.4%) and Álava (1.8%).