Press Release 22/11/2021

FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICS (ECOMEX). September 2021

Exports of goods from the Basque Country grew by 19.5% in September 2021

The cumulative total of exports for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 18,691 million euros, with a year-on-year increase of 23.3%

There was a rise in exports of goods from the Basque Country of 19.5% in September 2021, according to Eustat data. Exports of energy products rose by 109.4% and those of non-energy products (93% of the total value) were up 15.9%.

Of particular relevance this month were the upturns in “Metals and articles thereof” (62.4%), “Mineral and Energy Products” (103.8%) and “Rubber and Plastic Products” (29.0%). The decrease in “Transport Material” (-15.8%) was also noteworthy. As a whole, exports exceeded 2,341 million euros compared to 1,959 million in the same month of the previous year.

Imports saw growth of 51.3% in September 2021, reaching a value of 1,884 million euros. Energy imports increased by 110.3%, and non-energy imports were up 39.7%.

Provinces

Bizkaia registered the largest growth in exports, with 48.1%, due to the rise in “Metals and articles thereof” (63.5%) and in “Mineral and Energy Products” (109.7%), which, with an increase of 84 million, this month accounted for 16.5% of the total exported from this province. The increase in Gipuzkoa was 10.8% as a result of the rise in “Metals and articles thereof” (63.8%) and in “Rubber and Plastic Products” (162.5%), despite a decrease in “Transport Material” (-34.2%), with exports down 64.2 million on the same month of the previous year. In Álava the balance was slightly negative, with a 0.8% decline in exports, based on the 13.6% drop in “Transport Material”, which was offset by the 57.3% increase in “Metals and articles thereof”.

As regards imports, it was Bizkaia that accounted for the highest growth (70.9%), owing to the rise in acquisitions of “Mineral and Energy Products” (107.8%) and “Metals and articles thereof” (98.0%). Growth in Gipuzkoa stood at 36.0%, primarily because of the increase in “Metals and articles thereof” (78.6%); the balance was also positive in Álava, given that purchases of goods rose by 23.7% due to the upturn, as in the other provinces, in “Metals and articles thereof” (39.2%).

Activity Branches (A86)

Analysing the largest activity branches, and in relation to exports, standing out this September were the increases in exports of “Iron & Steel Products” (93.1%), especially in Bizkaia, “Coke plants and Oil Refining” (109.5%), also in Bizkaia, and exports of “Electrical Material & Equipment” (89.5%), in both Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Products relating to the “Manufacture of motor vehicles” saw a decrease of 14.0% (76 million down on September 2020). This latter activity branch (first in the export ranking) fell in all three provinces, but especially in Álava (-14.1%), where it went from 396.8 million in exports in September 2020 to 340.8 million in 2021.

In relation to imports, it can be observed that the largest activity branch, “Extraction & Petroleum Industries” (16.6% of the total), saw a rise of 86.5%, as did “Coke Plants & Oil Refining” (201.8%), the former with 145 million more than in 2020 and the latter with 82 million more. There were also notable increases in imports of “Iron & Steel Products” (102.7% and 99 million more) and “Waste Management and Remediation Services” (120.4%); the latter was particularly noteworthy in Gipuzkoa.

Largest customs duty groups

A more detailed look reveals year-on-year rises in exports of “Refined Petroleum Oils” (120.9%), with an increase of 74 million in respect of the same month of the previous year, and “Railway or tramway maintenance or service vehicles” (5,464.3%). There was also growth in exports of “Iron or Non-Alloy Steel Sections” (80.4%), “Flat, hot-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products of a width exceeding 599 mm” (586.3%), “Electrical Transformers, Static Converters & Inductors” (209.8%), “Flat rolled products of non-alloy iron or steel, not clad, plated or coated, of a width of less than 600 mm” (927.2%) and “Plastic items for transport, packaging or fastening (carboys, spools, bottles, bags, caps, lids and fasteners, etc.)” (666.8%).

One of the customs duty groups that is traditionally among the largest, “Goods Transport Vehicles”, saw a decrease of 54.1% and its exports fell by 93.3 million compared to the same month of the previous year.

As regards imports, in monetary terms, there was a sharp rise in Basque imports of “Refined Petroleum Oils” (211.6%) and a significant increase in “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (46.4%). In the case of the former, it went from importing a volume of 103,074 tonnes, worth 37.5 million euros, in September 2020, to 193,091 tonnes, worth 116.8 million, in the same month of 2021, primarily of “Diesel”, which, with an additional 25 thousand tonnes, accounted for an increase in expenditure of 43 million euros; in weight it represented an increase of 26.9%, but in value it translated into a rise of 147.1% with regard to the same month of the previous year. To a lesser extent, “Fuel Oil” also saw a significant increase, considering that nothing was imported in September 2020 and 57,252 tonnes were imported in September 2021, reaching a total of 22.7 million euros.

It is also worth highlighting the extraordinary growth in imports of “Petroleum gas and other hydrocarbon gases” (768.1%), with a year-on-year increase of 55,860 tonnes and 79 million euros more than in September 2020 (it went from 7.7 million to 76.8), in this case solely of “Natural gas”.

There was also a notable rise in imports of “Flat, hot-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products of a width exceeding 599 mm” (150.6%), “Remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel” (193.0%) and “Soya Beans, Whether or Not Broken” (99.8%).

Destination customers

In September, five countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy) were the Basque Country’s biggest customers, absorbing 51.4% of the total. Three of them belong to the EU27, an entity that accounts for 66.4% of Basque exports.

Foreign trade in the Basque Country. Annual cumulative total

During the first nine months of 2021, exports of goods from the Basque Country grew by 23.3% (3,535 million more than the previous year), reaching 18,691.4 million euros. This figure is slightly lower than that for the same period of 2019, the year before the pandemic, when it reached 18,875.4 million euros.

The cumulative total of imports rose to 14,905.7 million, that is, 3,391 million more than in the same period of the previous tax year, representing an increase of 29.4%.

Foreign trade in the Basque Country during the first nine months of 2021 generated a positive balance of 3,786 million euros, with a coverage rate of 125.4%.

Provinces

Bizkaia stood out during this period in terms of export activity, as, with a year-on-year increase of 32.7%, it was the leader in exports, reaching 7,550 million euros. In Álava, the rise stood at 19.1% (5,307.3 million euros) and in Gipuzkoa it was 16.4% (5,833.7 million euros).

As regards imports, the performance was more even in the three provinces: Bizkaia saw an increase of 31.3% and imported goods to the value of 8,330.5 million euros, followed by Gipuzkoa with 3,346.6 million, up 28.0%, and Álava with a similar percentage (26.4%) and a contribution of 3,228.7 million to the Basque Country total.

Products

Considering the type of product, it was Non-energy Products, with a year-on-year increase of 3,311 million (23.0%), which most contributed to the growth in exports, while Energy Products also recorded 223.5 million more than the previous year (29.5%).

Imports of Energy products rose by 35.5% and those of Non-energy Products were up 28.0%.

Destination countries

The ranking of countries to which Basque Country exports were sent in this period was topped by Germany, with 16.4% of the total exported, followed by France (16.0%), the United Kingdom (6.8%), the United States (5.9%) and Belgium with 5.3%. These five countries accounted for half of Basque exports (50.4%), with 9,428 million euros. If we add Italy (5.2%), the Netherlands (5.0%), Portugal (4.3%), China (2.7%) and Poland (2.4%) to the aforementioned states, the cumulative total for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 13,101 million euros and represented 70.1% of total Basque exports.

Activity Branches (A86)

Among the largest activity branches by export volume, of particular note was “Iron and Steel products” (44.8%), which exceeded that exported during the previous year by 628 million, reaching 2,031 million euros. This activity branch increased its growth rate by 5 percentage points compared to the cumulative total up to the previous month, with an increase of 134 million in just one month.

There was also considerable growth in exports of “Non-ferrous Metals” (61.8%), “General Use Machinery” (9.2%), “Rubber Products” (20.9%) and, particularly, “Naval Construction” (1,138.8%).

The branch of products relating to the “Manufacture of motor vehicles” (4,020.5 million and 21.5% of the total) registered cumulative growth of 17.9% at the end of September 2021, with 610.3 million more than in the same period of the previous year.

For imports, it is worth highlighting that the largest branch, “Mineral and Extraction Industries” (crude oil), was up 14.0% and those following it in terms of volume also grew, especially “Iron and Steel products” (50.4%) and, most notably, “Coke Plants & Oil Refining” (170.8%) (refined oil).

Largest customs duty groups

A more detailed look reveals that, within exports, only three of the top 25 customs duty groups had negative growth rates: “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel” (-22.3%), “Railway or Tramway Vehicle Parts” (-5.7%) and “Lifts, Escalators, Transporters, etc.” (-2.8%). In the remaining customs duty groups, the rates were positive, with the following standing out due to their significance and specific weight: “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (19.0%), “Goods Transport Vehicles” (9.5%), “New Rubber Tyres” (16.3%), “Refined Petroleum Oils” (26.0%) and, in particular, “Vehicle parts and accessories” (32.3%). These comprised the leading Basque export group, with a total of 5,537 million euros exported, accounting for almost 29.6% of exports.

If we carry out the same analysis for imports, of particular relevance was the significant increase in purchases of “Refined Petroleum Oils” (165.6%), which, in the period in question, accumulated 760 million euros compared to 286 million in the same period of the previous year, going from 911,538 tonnes to 1,650,779 tonnes; there is no higher growth rate until the 64th customs duty group in the import ranking. None of the top 25 customs duty groups imported posted a negative growth rate; the first group with a negative rate was “Telephones” (-32.3%), in 36th place, and, in particular, “Mobile telephones”, which caused this drop, with a specific decrease of 46.5%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62