Press Release 21/04/2016
The turnover figure for industry in the Basque Country grew by 2.6% in 2014
43.2% of sales in the manufacturing industry were made abroad, more than 10 points above the percentage for 2008
The net turnover figure for the industrial sector of the Basque country registered nominal growth of 2.6% in 2014, according to data provided by Eustat. The industrial sector has thereby inverted the trend of the two preceding years and has returned to positive growth.
Gross Added Value at factor cost also saw an upward trend, with 1.2% growth. Furthermore, the number of people in work was 192,387, which is 1.7% down on the previous year. As a result, the productivity of Basque industry, measured as value added per person in work, was €68,100 in 2014, 2.9% than in the previous year.
Investment decreased by 36.2%, after a strong boost in 2013.
Within the various sections of Industry and Energy, Manufacturing Industry stood out, accounting for 95% of total people employed and 84% of the turnover figure and total added value. The second largest section in terms of number of people employed is Water Supply and Sanitation, which employed 6,243 people, or 3% of total employment, and accounted for 2% of turnover. This is followed by Electricity, Gas & Steam which, although it only employed 1% of the total, it accounted for 14% of turnover and created 12% of value added. Finally, Extraction Industries reached a turnover of 273 million euros with 459 jobs.
Within Manufacturing Industry, and due its weight in the Basque industrial sector, the upward trends in the branches of Metallurgy & Metal Products (1.3%), Machinery & Equipment (4.5%) and Transport Material (2.4%) were notable. On the other hand, the branches that saw the greatest decreases in turnover in 2014 were Electrical Material & Equipment (-16.1%), Textile, Garments, Leather & Footwear (-14.9%) and Pharmaceutical Products (-11.4%).
Regarding destination of sales, the Basque Manufacturing Industry made 43,2% of its sales abroad, 1.4 percentage points more than in 2013 and 10.2 points more than at the beginning of the crisis, in 2008. The repositioning that the manufacturing industry sector has had to undergo towards external markets as alternatives to the internal market, and particularly that of the Rest of Spain, is clear. Out of the total sales, just over 26% was to the European Union while 17% was to the Rest of the World. Sales to the Rest of Spain, on the other hand, fell by almost one percentage point with respect to 2013 and almost nine points with respect to 2008, accounting for 27.9% of the total for 2014. Finally, the internal market (the Basque Country) took 28.8% of the total sold, half a percentage point less than in 2013 and one and a half points less than in 2008.
On a sectoral basis, the inclination towards exports is significant in the sectors of Transport Material and Machinery & Equipment, with 75% and 61% of their respective sales being made abroad in 2014. The trend in the Electrical Material & Equipment sector is also notable, which went from exporting 25% in 2008 to 49% in 2014.
Spanish industry made 36% of its total manufacturing sales abroad in 2014, seven percentage points less than Basque industry.
As regards productivity, the branches with the most productivity within Industry and Energy in 2014 were, excluding the Electricity, Gas & Steam sector with a value of 688 thousand euros per person, Pharmaceutical Products and Extraction Industries, both with amounts above a hundred thousand euros, specifically 116 thousand in the case of pharmaceutical industry and 101 thousand in extraction industry. Those with the lowest were the sectors of Coke Plants & Oil Refining (20 thousand euros) and Textile, Garments, Leather & Footwear (40 thousand euros). The Manufacturing Industry average was 60,078 euros and the total for Industry and Energy was 68,100 euros.
On a provincial basis, growth in turnover was very even, as Álava grew by 2.7%, Gipuzkoa by 2.6% and Bizkaia by 2.5%. With regards to variations in employment, although the three provinces saw downward trends, it was sharpest in the case of Álava with a 2.2% drop, and there were decreases of 1.9% in Bizkaia and 1.2% in Gipuzkoa. Value Added, for its part, rose in the provinces of Álava (2.5%) and Bizkaia (1.6%), whereas it remained practically the same in Gipuzkoa (-0.1%).
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on industrial statistics of the Basque Country
Industrial statistics of he Basque Country databank