Press Release 17/03/2022

FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICS (ECOMEX). January 2022

Exports from the Basque Country increased by 29.9% in January 2022, the January with the highest volume of exports in the historical series

In 2021, Basque imports from Russia were concentrated in petroleum products or products derived from petroleum and, in the case of Ukraine, in sunflower-seed oils and iron and steel

According to Eustat data, in January 2022 exports of goods from the Basque Country (accounting for 2,241.1 million euros) were up 29.9% compared to the same month of the previous year, making it the January with the highest volume of exports in the historical series.

Within exports, those of energy products registered a very sharp rise of 131.6%, although they only represented 7.4% of the total exported. In turn, exports of non-energy products saw considerable growth of 25.5%.

Furthermore, imports (2,012.8 million) exceeded those recorded the previous year by 47.8%, due to the increases in energy products (62.3%) and non-energy products (44.1%).

As a result, the trade balance was positive (228.4 million), with a coverage rate of 111.3%, which was 15.3 points lower than the rate in January 2021.

Provinces

Bizkaia stood out during this period in terms of export activity, as, with a year-on-year increase of 34.3%, it was the leader in exports, reaching 900.3 million euros. Exports in Bizkaia grew this month, owing to the rises in “Metals and articles thereof” (32%), “Mineral and Energy Products” (122.9%) and “Electrical Material” (10.1%).

Similar growth was seen in Álava, standing at 33.4% (736.2 million). The increase in this province was due to the rises in “Transport Material” (32.7%), “Metals and articles thereof” (63.3%) and “Plastics and Rubber” (16.8%).

In the case of Gipuzkoa, there was an upturn of 20.3% (604.6 million in exports), as a result of the increase of 25.0% in “Electrical Material” and 34.8% in “Metals and articles thereof”, although exports of “Transport Material” fell by 13.8%.

As regards imports, Bizkaia saw a rise of 54.3% and imported goods to the value of 1,167.9 million euros, primarily thanks to acquisitions of “Mineral and Energy Products” (62.1%), with 175.6 million more than the previous year, “Metals and articles thereof” (58.1%) and “Chemical Products” (169.5%).

It was followed by Álava with 440.2 million, up 50.5%. Growth in Álava came from its three main imports: “Metals and articles thereof” (118.5%), “Electrical Material & Equipment” (41.3%) and “Transport Material” (28%).

Lastly, Gipuzkoa imported 29.5% more than in the same month of the previous year, with a contribution of 404.7 million to the Basque Country total, and its three most significant import groups were “Metals and articles thereof” (58.6%), “Electrical Material” (19.5%) and “Transport Material” (7.9%).

Activity Branches (A86)

Analysing the largest activity branches for the Basque Country as a whole, and in relation to exports, of particular relevance was the increase in “Manufacture of motor vehicles” (27.0%), especially in Álava (34%), given that of the 123.8 million euro increase compared to the previous year, 114.8 million corresponded to this province. In Gipuzkoa the variation was also positive, up 9.1 million (14.1%).

“Coke Plants & Oil Refining” also experienced strong growth (130.4%), concentrated in Bizkaia, a province that exported 164.5 million.

Exports of “Iron and Steel products” increased by 92.7 million euros in respect of the same month of 2021. This growth was distributed almost equally between the three provinces: 30.9 million more were exported in Álava, 30 million more in Bizkaia and 31.8 million in Gipuzkoa.

In Gipuzkoa, there was also strong year-on-year growth in “General Use Machinery”, which, with 124.2 million in exports, significantly contributed to the 19.0% rise in this branch in the Basque Country as a whole.

In relation to imports, it is worth noting that the largest branch, “Extraction & Petroleum Industries”, grew by 48.1%, “Iron & Steel Products”, second in the ranking, saw an increase of 103%, and “Manufacture of motor vehicles”, third this month, was up 39.6%. The “Paints and other chemical finishes” activity branch also rose considerably (170.0%), entirely due to Bizkaia, with 97 million euros in imports.

Largest customs duty groups

A more detailed look reveals that the greatest year-on-year rises were in exports of “Refined petroleum oils” (126.2% and 85 million euros more), “Iron or Non-Alloy Steel Sections” (85.2% and 25.3 million more) and “Plant or animal fats and oils for industrial technical use” (122.9%), whose increase was almost exclusively due to Bizkaia.

Likewise, there was a major boost in exports of products within the vehicle sector, especially “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (24.1% and 44.5 million more), “Goods Transport Vehicles” (25.8% and 35.9 million more), “Vehicle parts and accessories” (27.5% and 35.1 million) and “New Rubber Tyres” (23.1% and 18.6 million more). Within this sector, the rise in “Vehicles for transporting 10 or more people, including the driver” (136.7%) was also noteworthy, with 10.8 million in exports from Gipuzkoa. In contrast, exports of “Railway or tramway vehicle parts” were down 61.4%.

This January, imports of “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” registered a drop of 17% in tonnes, but an increase of 37.5% in euros. The situation was similar for “Petroleum gas and other hydrocarbon gases”, which, with purchases of 42.8 million and growth of 312.6% in euros, saw no variation in weight. There was also a significant rise in “Refined petroleum oils”, both in terms of euros (184.2%) and tonnes (77.2%), where the value of imports reached 62.4 million euros, and in “Biodiesel and mixtures thereof”, with 41.3 million in imports in January 2022.

On the other hand, there were decreases in “Unwrought aluminium” (-9.9%) and “Soya Beans, Whether or Not Broken” (-49.5%).

Source/destination customers

In January 2022, five countries (Germany, France, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) were the Basque Country’s biggest customers, absorbing over half the value of exports, specifically 53%. Three of them belong to the EU27, an entity that accounts for 65.5% of Basque exports.

As regards the main supplier countries, they were: Germany (286.4 million), France (193.8 million), China (182.6 million), Russia (136.7 million) and the United Kingdom (109.2 million), which together with the United States (102.4 million) represented 50.2% of the total imported.

TRADE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA IN 2021

IMPORTS

In 2021, imports of goods from Russia accounted for 6.5% of total Basque imports. In 1992, they represented 3.0% and maintained a percentage of around 4% until 2002, when they began to grow, reaching 10% in 2004 and remaining at levels close to or slightly above 15% for 10 years. As of 2014, this percentage began to fall and dropped below double digits.

Russian imports are characterised by their lack of diversity, as they have always been grouped into the following customs duty chapters:

a) “Petroleum products” (85.8% of the total imported in 2021), which have almost always accounted for more than 50% and in 2005 exceeded 80%, a level at which they have remained ever since, with the exception of 2015, 2017 and 2018.

A more detailed analysis of customs duty groups within this chapter reveals that the first three positions in the import ranking were occupied by groups pertaining to this chapter. Thus, “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (701.6 million euros) headed the list, representing 46.5% of the total imported by Spain from this country and for this product, with a total of 1,647,374 tonnes; followed by “Refined petroleum oils” (364.5 million and 865,503 tonnes), in this case, primarily “Diesel” (240.4 million and 500,755 tonnes) and “Fuel” (124.1 million and 364,747 tonnes). In third place was “Petroleum gas and other hydrocarbon gases”, exclusively “Natural Gas” (103.2 million and 282,800 tonnes)

b) “Iron and steel” (6.5% in 2021). This percentage has stood above 10% for many years and, specifically, during the period 1994 to 2005, it surpassed 14% of total imports from Russia.

Further analysis shows that the largest customs duty group within this chapter was “Ferrous products obtained by direct reduction of iron ore and high-purity iron, in lumps, pellets or similar forms” (28.5 million), followed by “Remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel” (21.0 million, accounting for 47.4% of the Spanish total) and “Pig iron and spiegeleisen in pigs, blocks or other primary forms” (16.4 million, 100% of the Spanish total).

c) “Rubber and articles thereof” (3.2% in 2021), specifically “Synthetic rubber in primary forms or in plates, sheets or strip” (43.4 million, 88.6% of the total for Spain).

Besides these three customs duty chapters, attention should be drawn to imports of “Unwrought aluminium” (14.3 million) and “Carbon (carbon blacks and other forms of carbon)” (13.2 million).

It should also be noted that the Basque Country played an important role in certain products with regard to total Spanish imports from Russia. Thus, the Basque Country accounted for more than 90% of Spanish imports of: “Bars and profiles of other steel alloys and hollow bars for drilling”, “Flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width of less than 600 mm”, “Float glass and surface ground or polished glass, in sheets, but not otherwise worked”, “Soya-bean oil”, “Artificial corundum, aluminium oxide and hydroxide”, “Beryllium, cadmium, chromium, germanium, vanadium, gallium, hafnium, indium, niobium, rhenium and thallium, including waste and scrap” and 73.8% of “Titanium and articles thereof, including waste and scrap”.

EXPORTS

In 2021, exports of goods to Russia accounted for 0.98% of the Basque Country total. Exports are also characterised by a lack of diversity, as in 2021 they were concentrated in three main customs duty chapters:

a) “Motor vehicles” (35.9% of the total exported in 2021).

First place in the export ranking was held by a customs duty group pertaining to this chapter: “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (76.8 million euros), with 92.6% of this product being exported from the Basque Country. Another significant group in this chapter was “Vehicle parts and accessories” (11.4 million).

b) “Machinery, Devices and Mechanical Appliances and parts thereof” (27.9% in 2021).

In this case, we can see that eleven of the twenty-five largest customs duty groups pertained to this chapter. The most significant of these were “Lathes and turning centres for removing metal” (13.0 million, representing 99.8% of exports from Spain), followed by “Taps, valves and similar appliances for pipes” (11.3 million), “Parts of machinery or lifting machinery, fork-lift trucks, lifts, graders and levellers, excavators, drills, etc.” (7.5 million), “Machines for washing, filling, sealing and labelling containers and packing machinery” (7.2 million) and “Parts and accessories for machine tools” (5.9 million, accounting for 81.1% of Spanish exports), among others.

c) “Rubber and articles thereof” (20.0% in 2021).

These were essentially “New rubber tyres” (48.5 million), primarily “Of a kind used on construction, mining or industrial handling vehicles and machines” (20.3 million) and “Of a kind used on buses or lorries” (14.6 million).

TRADE RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE IN 2021

IMPORTS

In 2021, imports of goods from Ukraine accounted for 0.76% of the Basque Country total. This percentage has always stood below 1%, reaching its peak in 2020 with 0.85%.

Ukrainian imports, as in the case of Russia, are characterised by their lack of diversity, as they have always been grouped into two main customs duty chapters:

a) “Plant or animal fats and oils” (52.7% of the total imported in 2021), which, since 2010, have accounted for more than 50%, with the exception of 2013 and 2018.

Within this chapter and in terms of customs duty groups, all imports were concentrated in a single type of product: “Sunflower-seed oil” (84.5 million euros), representing 80.9% of total Basque imports of this product, with a total of 74,601 tonnes.

b) “Iron and steel” (41.3% in 2021). This percentage has stood above 50% for many years, specifically during the period 1994 to 2000.

Among the largest customs duty groups in this chapter were “Pig iron and spiegeleisen in pigs, blocks or other primary forms” (30.7 million, 42.3% of total Basque imports of this product and 64.3% of the Spanish total), “Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated” (28.7 million) and “Ferro-alloys” (4.5 million).

Besides these two customs duty chapters, attention should be drawn to imports of “Soya Beans, Whether or Not Broken”, 3.6 million, accounting for 100% of the Spanish total, “Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood” (2.0 million), “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel” (1.5 million) and “Intermediate iron or non-alloy steel products”, 1.4 million, also representing 100% of the Spanish total.

The Basque Country accounted for more than 90% of Spanish imports from Ukraine in a number of products not mentioned above, such as: “Railway or tramway vehicle parts”, “Prepared or preserved tomatoes”, “Bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and similar munitions of war and parts thereof; cartridges and other ammunition and projectiles and parts thereof”, “Other preparations and products of the chemical and allied industries”, “Orthopaedic appliances”, “Nonwovens, coated or covered, including man-made filaments” and “Carbides, whether or not chemically defined”.

EXPORTS

In 2021, exports of goods to Ukraine accounted for 0.16% of the Basque Country total. A lack of diversity also characterises exports to Ukraine, as in 2021 they were concentrated in two main customs duty chapters:

a) “Motor vehicles” (29.0% of the total exported in 2021).

As in the case of Russia, first place in the customs duty group ranking was held by “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (8.9 million euros). Other groups in this chapter were “Vehicle parts and accessories” (1.7 million), “Bicycles and other cycles, not motorised” (0.6 million euros) and “Goods Transport Vehicles” (0.5 million).

b) “Machinery, Devices and Mechanical Appliances and parts thereof” (26.1% in 2021).

A more detailed analysis of customs duty groups reveals that eight of the twenty-five largest customs duty groups exported to Ukraine pertained to this chapter. The most significant were “Agricultural, horticultural or forestry machinery for soil preparation or cultivation” (2.7 million), “Machines for washing, filling, sealing and labelling containers and packing machinery” (2.0 million) and “Taps, valves and similar appliances for pipes” (1.1 million).

In addition to the aforementioned products, the following stood out in the Ukrainian export ranking: “New rubber tyres” (3.2 million), “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel” (3.0 million, accounting for 100% of Spanish exports of this product), “Bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and similar munitions of war and parts thereof; cartridges and other ammunition and projectiles and parts thereof” (2.0 million and 99.2% of the Spanish total).

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