Press release 18/06/2020
Exports of goods from the Basque Country decreased by 53.2% and imports were down by 43.2% in April 2020
Over the first four months of 2020 as a whole, the foreign balance still registered a surplus in excess of 1,000 million euros and a coverage rate of 119%
There was a 53.2% decrease in exports of goods from the Basque Country, in nominal year-on-year terms, according to EUSTAT data. They totalled 1,042 million euros compared to 2,228.4 million in the same month of the previous year. Exports of Energy products decreased by 81.7% and exports of Non-energy products were down 48.9%.
The three provinces shared the pattern indicated above, it being most pronounced in Álava, given that it saw a downturn of 69.2%, followed by Bizkaia (-51.5%) and Gipuzkoa (-44.3%). These percentages are explained, in Álava, by its dependence on the customs duty group Transport Material and in Bizkaia for its link to Mineral and Energy products. In the latter case if we exclude this type of products the drop in Bizkaia would have been 38.0%.
Imports of goods to the Basque Country, with a total of 985.9 million euros, fell by 43.2% compared to April 2019. Energy imports fell by 65.1% (-18.5% if we consider tonnes imported) and Non-energy imports were down 33.9%. At a provincial level the largest decrease was registered in Gipuzkoa, with 55.3%, followed by Álava (-43.5%) and Bizkaia (-31.1%).
This month ten countries - France, Germany, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and China – accounted for 61.2% of our exports. The majority belong to the EU-27, which with 592.3 million, accounted for 56.8% of Basque Country exports.
SECTOR LEVEL ANALYSIS OF EXPORTS (APRIL 2020)
Analysing the branches of activity (A86), a shrinking export trend was observed in the majority of the categories; thus, in only 6 of them - for a total of 48 - more or less pronounced increases were registered. Of the 10 largest none grew in respect of the same month of the previous year, but instead posted negative percentages ranging from 4.9% for products derived from the Paper Industry, to 81.7% for Other Transport Material.
In addition to the sharp decrease in the aforementioned category the following branches stood out due to the scale of the downturn in exports: Manufacture of motor vehicles (-81.4% and 76.9 million exported), Coke plants and Oil Refining (-76.9% and 48.3 million), Rubber Products (-59.6% and 39.2 million), Metal Products (-40.7% and 98.5 million), Iron & Steel Products (-40.3% and 124.3 million), Production of non-ferrous metals (-37.2% and 49.7 million), Electrical Material & Equipment (-33.9% and 60.6 million) and General Use Machinery (-26.1% and 172.2 million) that, this month, became the branch with the highest volume of exports.
During April 2020, of the 25 main customs duty groups, 7 registered increases and 18 experienced decreases compared to the same period of the previous year.
The two most important Basque export groups during the aforementioned period were Vehicle parts and accessories and Refined Petroleum Oils. The former, with 60.1 million, accounted for 5.8% of the monthly total, after having dropped 57.7%; the latter registered a decrease of 75.6% and, in this case, the 46.2 million exported accounted for 4.4% of the aforementioned total.Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel attained third place in the export ranking, with a drop of 25.0% and a sales figure of 30.3 million euros.
The next group on this scale, New Rubber Tyres, dropped 60.5%. Taps, valves and similar appliances for pipes fell by 25.0% and Aluminium sheets and strips of a thickness exceeding 0.2 mm were down 43.1%, occupying sixth place in the ranking.
Passenger cars with less than 10 seats (-96.0% and 5.9 million), Goods Transport Vehicles (-98.0% and 1.9 million) and Diesel and electric motor units for railway tracks and motorised trams (-94.0% and 10.0 million), which month on month generally appears among the top positions in the export ranking, this month was not even among the top 27 positions.
ÁLAVA. Exports during April 2020
Exports from the province of Álava were down 69.2%. Of the ten main groups, which accounted for 43.2% of the total, six showed negative growth rates, those connected with the vehicle sector being of particular relevance: Passenger cars with less than 10 seats (-96.2%), Vehicle parts and accessories (-79.8%) and New Rubber Tyres (-63.1%). Goods Transport Vehicles with a drop of 98.1% was not among the top positions and occupied twentieth place in the ranking. This shrinking export trend was not generalised across all the largest groups this month, as was shown by the growth in Boards, panels and bases for the control or distribution of electricity (37.4%), Wine made with fresh grapes (18.7%) and Stoppers, caps and other packing accessories of base metal (14.4%).
BIZKAIA. Exports during April 2020
In Bizkaia exports fell by 51.5%. This phenomenon is primarily due to the contribution of the most important group Refined Petroleum Oils, which fell 75.7%. However, it was not the only product that contributed to this process, given that the following groups, among others, also registered decreases: Vehicle parts and accessories (-67.4%), New Rubber Tyres (-59,1%), Interchangeable tools for hand tools or for machine tools (-52.1%) and Aluminium sheets and strips of a thickness exceeding 0.2 mm (-45.3%). Of particular note was the good performance of the group Unrefined copper and copper anodes for electrolytic refining, which grew by 48.9%, Chain and parts thereof, of iron or steel (258.6%) and Apparatus for the heat treatment of materials, up 644.2%.
Of the 487.3 million year-on-year decrease in this province, 143.5 corresponded to the group that occupies first place in the export ranking. This sudden decline is partly due to the recent significant drop in prices of products derived from petroleum; if we use tonnes exported instead of value in euros then this percentage of -75.7 % will drop to -23.1% (from 340,853 tonnes in April 2019 to 262,116 tonnes in April 2020).
GIPUZKOA. Exports during April 2020
Gipuzkoa registered the lowest decline in exports of the three provinces, standing below the Basque Country average with a drop of 44.3%; even so, this month, 7 of its 10 main groups experienced sharp downturns, including, for example, Vehicle parts and accessories (-43.2%), Iron or non-alloy steel sections (-44.6%) and, above all, Diesel and electric motor units for railway tracks and motorised trams (-94.0%).
Positive trends were shown by Taps, valves and similar appliances for pipes (2.1%), Ball or roller bearings (20.6%) and Machine-tools for drilling, boring, milling or threading metal other than lathes (65.6%).
ANNUAL ACCUMULATE (FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 2020): the foreign trade balance generated a surplus of 1,060 million euros and the coverage rate stood at 119.1%
For the first four months of 2020 as a whole, and for exports from the Basque Country, a decrease of 21.4% was registered compared to the same period of the previous year, which translated into a fall of 1,795.5 million euros. The total amount of exports this period stood at 6,610.5 million euros; the greatest contribution to this figure was that of Bizkaia, with 2,606.8 million (39.4% of the total), followed by Gipuzkoa (2,177.9 million) and Álava (1,825.7 million).
Bizkaia exports were the largest in the Basque Country, despite a year-on-year drop of 18.9% (609.1 million euros down on 2019). In Álava there was a decrease of 22.6% (down 533.2 million); however, in Gipuzkoa there was a fall of 23.1% (down 653.2 million). Considering the type of exported product, it was Non-energy products, with a decrease of 1,512.6 million, which accounted for the majority of the aforementioned fall, although exports of Energy products also decreased (down 282.9 million).
The ten most exported products (export duty groups) during the first four months of 2020 accounted for 39.7% of exports, reaching a total of 2,621.8 million. All registered decreases in respect of the same period of 2019. The majority of these decreases stood above 50 million euros, with five of them standing out with downturns in excess of 100 million and four exceeded 150 million; specifically, these were products connected to the transport material sector: Diesel and electric motor units for railway tracks and motorised trams were down 52.5% (189.1 million euros);Passenger cars with less than 10 seats, dropped 27.7% (down 194.8 million); Goods Transport Vehicles decreased by 34.9% (down 171.0 million); and Vehicle parts and accessories fell by 25.8% (down 157.4 million). A considerable downturn was also registered in Refined Petroleum Oils (-22.3% and down 109.4 million).
The export ranking of these first four months of 2020 situates Germany as the prime receiver country of Basque exports, with 16.2% of the total exported. Germany is followed by France (15.6%), the United States (6.8%) and the United Kingdom (6.7%). Between them, these four countries accounted for almost 45.3% of Basque exports.
Accumulated imports for the Basque Country as a whole during the period in question amounted to 5,550.3 million euros. Comparing this figure in year-on-year terms we see that it is 1,343.5 million down on that registered in the same period of 2019. This decrease (19.5%) is largely due to the fact that the province of Bizkaia (with imports of 3,187.2 million) registered a downturn of 19.7%, that is, 781.4 million down on the same period of the previous year. Imports decreased in Bizkaia (-19.5% and down 289.5 million) and also in Álava (-18.9% and down 272.7 million); the value of imports in these two provinces stood at 1,196.1 and 1,167.0 million euros, respectively. Imports of Energy Products fell by 27.5% and those of Non-energy Products were down 16.6%.
Foreign trade in goods in the Basque Country during the first four months of 2020 had a positive balance of 1,060.2 million euros. Although this is 452 million down on that registered during the same period of the previous year, this maintains a positive coverage rate of 119.1%.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62