Press Release 18/01/2024

FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICS (ECOMEX). November 2023

Exports were up 0.8% in the Basque Country in November 2023, following seven months of negative rates

In the cumulative total for the first eleven months of the year, exports exceeded 30,000 million euros and the trade surplus reached 5,200 million euros

In November 2023 and compared to the same month of the previous year, exports of goods from the Basque Country (3,152 million euros) recorded a nominal increase of 0.8%, thanks to the rise in energy products (49.1%) and despite of the drop in non-energy products (-3.1%), according to Eustat data.

Imports (2,220 million) registered a downturn of 12.0%. Non-energy imports dropped by 11.4% and energy imports were down 13.7%. However, if we make the year-on-year comparison in tonnes imported, this decrease translates into growth of 8.2%.

There was a positive trade balance in the order of 931.9 million euros, with a coverage rate of 142.0%.

This month, exports from Bizkaia saw an increase of 10.4%, while in Álava they fell by 8.3% and in Gipuzkoa they were down 1.2%. In the case of Bizkaia, energy exports rose by 49.6% compared to the same month of the previous year, thus ending the eight-month streak of negative rates.

In Álava, most exports were in “Transport material”, despite a drop of 3.5%, with a total of 567.1 million in exports, and “Metals and articles thereof”, which fell by 24.7%. The former represented 60.1% of the total and “Metals and articles thereof” 15.6%. “Plastics and Rubber” grew by 24.9% (64.2 million in exports) and “Electrical equipment, machinery & devices” saw an increase of 13.2%, with 62.7 million.

In Gipuzkoa, three customs duty groups accounted for more than three quarters of international trade (78.7%), although they performed differently in the year-on-year comparison: “Electrical equipment, machinery and devices” (+16.0%), “Transport material” (+25.2%) and “Metals and articles thereof” (-19.5%).

Bizkaia saw an upturn in exports of “Transport material” (71.5%) and “Mineral and energy products” (50.7% and 350.6 million in exports), which, for the latter, meant 117.9 million and 186,501 tonnes more than in the same month of the previous year.

Source/destination countries, November 2023

In November 2023, five countries (France, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy) were the Basque Country’s biggest customers, absorbing 53.7% (1,693.1 million) of the total exported. Three of these countries are part of the EU27, which accounted for 61.5%.

France, with a total of 524.1 million euros, held first place this month in the ranking of countries by export destination. Standing out among the 669 types of products received were “Refined petroleum oils” (97.2 million), “Vehicle parts and accessories” (35.2 million), “New rubber tyres” (28.9 million), “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (27.4 million), “Goods transport vehicles” (24.8 million) and “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (23.6 million).

Exports to Germany this month rose to 460.7 million euros, and were primarily concentrated in customs duty groups related to the vehicle sector: “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (130.1 million), “Goods transport vehicles” (61.0 million), “Vehicle parts and accessories” (43.5 million) and “New rubber tyres” (19.6 million), for a total of 422 different products.

The United States came in third place with 370.0 million euros, with the majority of exports in “Refined petroleum oils” (143.6 million), “Goods transport vehicles” (38.6 million), “Biodiesel and mixtures thereof” (30.5 million), “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel” (22.7 million), “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (10.4 million) and “Turbo-reactors, turbo-propellers and other gas turbines, and their parts and components” (10.1 million), totalling 377 different products.

This month, the United Kingdom accounted for 5.4% (169.5 million euros) of total exports from the Basque Country, of which 24.4 million corresponded to “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats”, 17.7 million to “Turbo-reactors, turbo-propellers and other gas turbines, and their parts and components”, 15.1 million to “Iron or non-alloy steel sections”, 12.1 million to “Goods transport vehicles”, 9.1 million to “New rubber tyres” and 8.0 million to “Vehicle parts and accessories”, for a total of 419 different products.

Exports to Italy amounted to 168.7 million euros and this month’s transactions were dominated by “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (23.8 million), “New rubber tyres” (10.9 million), “Vehicles for transporting 10 or more people” (9.2 million), “Machine tools for drilling, boring, milling or threading metal other than lathes” (7.6 million) and “Vehicle parts and accessories” (7.5 million), out of a total of 418 products.

Exports to Russia (2.6 million euros) primarily consisted of “Machines for washing, filling, sealing and labelling containers and packing machinery”, with 0.9 million, and “Vehicle parts and accessories” (0.7 million). The remaining 1.1 million euros were shared between 17 different products.

This month, 51.2% of Basque imports came from the EU27. The countries that supplied goods include Germany, which accounted for a total of 327.9 million euros, chiefly divided between “Vehicle parts and accessories” (37.3 million), “Internal combustion engines, diesel or semi-diesel” (35.5 million), “Soya-bean oil” (10.9 million), “Electric motors and generators (except electrical generating sets)” (10.5 million) and “Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, clad, plated or coated” (8.2 million).

The most sought-after product from France was “Remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel”, accounting for 20.6 million euros out of total imports of 180 million euros, which were divided between 722 types of product.

A total of 567 different products were imported from Italy, which together represented a total of 110.3 million euros and were primarily concentrated in the groups of “Base metals, iron and steel and articles thereof” and “Transport machinery and material”.

Outside the EU, of particular note was Brazil with 202 million euros, of which 197.8 million corresponded to “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals”.

It is also worth highlighting imports from the United States (96.7 million euros), the majority of which were in “Petroleum gas and other hydrocarbon gases” (30 million) and “Soya beans, whether or not broken” (27.8 million).

Yet again, the most imported product from China was “Electric accumulators and parts thereof”, with 42.5 million euros out of a total of 177 million.

Russian imports this month amounted to 4.3 million euros and primarily consisted of “Unwrought aluminium” (2.6 million), “Aluminium wire” (0.7 million) and “Titanium and articles thereof, including waste and scrap” (0.4 million).

Energy imports were distributed as follows: 338.4 million from America (55.3%), with 197.8 million coming from Brazil, 63.5 million from Venezuela, 47 million from Mexico and 30 million from the United States; 135.4 million was imported from Asia (22.1%), distributed between Kazakhstan (54.8 million) and Iraq (80.3 million); 111.4 million from Europe (18.2%), almost all of which came from Turkey (60.9 million), Belgium (28.0 million) and the Netherlands (21.3 million); and 27.1 million from Africa (4.4%), entirely from Libya.

Products traded in November 2023

A more detailed look at the four-digit products reveals that in November 2023 the ten main customs duty groups accounted for 46.5% of exports, with a combined value of 1,464.7 million euros.

Within the top 25 customs duty groups, noteworthy increases were recorded in six of them: “Refined petroleum oils” (43.3% and 306.5 million in exports), “New rubber tyres” (21.9% and 120.4 million), “Vehicle parts and accessories” (15.0% and 214.1 million), “Goods transport vehicles” (13.1% and 199.4 million), “Vehicles for transporting 10 or more people, including the driver” (331.9% and 27.7 million) and “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (27.4 million).

In the case of imports, and with regard to the top customs duty groups, the most significant increases were recorded in “Electric accumulators and parts thereof” (41.2% and 48.8 million in imports) and “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (23.9% of the total), which saw growth of 18.3% (82.2 million more than in the same month of 2022), making a purchase total of 531.7 million.

By contrast, there was a decline in imports of “Refined petroleum oils” (-61.4%), “Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated” (-68.6%) and “Petroleum gas and other hydrocarbon gases” (-72.2%).

ÁLAVA. Exports during November 2023

In Álava, exports fell by 8.3% compared to the same month of the previous year. This decline was primarily seen in “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats” (293 million), which registered a drop of 14.9%, and “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel” (51 million), with a decrease of 35.1%. On the other hand, there were increases in sales of “Goods transport vehicles”, with 199.1 million (up 13.0%), and “New rubber tyres” (47.9% and 48.6 million), among other customs duty groups.

BIZKAIA. Exports during November 2023

Exports from the province of Bizkaia were up 10.4%. “Refined petroleum oils”, first in the export ranking for Bizkaia, was the customs duty group responsible for this phenomenon, given that, with growth of 43.8%, which led to 303.7 million in exports (92.4 million more than in the same month of the previous year), it determined the performance of the province as a whole. Sales were also up in “Turbo-reactors, turbo-propellers and other gas turbines, and their parts and components” (57.0%) and “Petroleum oils or oils obtained from bituminous minerals” (27.4 million in exports).

GIPUZKOA. Exports during November 2023

Exports from Gipuzkoa dropped by 1.2% this month. Growth of more than 100% was recorded in “Vehicles for transporting 10 or more people, including the driver” (568.9%), “Machinery for making cellulose pulp, paper, paperboard and the finishing thereof” (420.2%) and “Parts of lifting and conveying machinery or equipment, levellers, mechanical shovels, excavators, drills, etc.” (151.2%). Significant growth was also registered in “Vehicle parts and accessories” (29.7%).

CUMULATIVE TOTAL (JANUARY-NOVEMBER) 2023: goods exports were up 0.2%, the trade balance was positive (5,205 million euros) and the coverage rate stood at 120.8%

For the first eleven months of 2023 as a whole, and with regard to exports from the Basque Country, an increase of 0.2% was registered compared to the same period of the previous year, translating to a rise of 64.3 million euros. The total amount of exports for this period stood at 30,265 million euros: the greatest contribution to this figure was made by Bizkaia, with 11,396 million euros (37.7% of the total), followed by Álava (9,583 million euros) and Gipuzkoa (9,286 million euros).

Exports from Álava posted a year-on-year increase of 803.2 million euros compared to the same period in 2022, and a relative rise of 9.1%. Gipuzkoa saw a much more moderate increase (1.8%, with 160.7 million euros more than in 2022), whereas in Bizkaia there was a negative trend, with exports down by 899.6 million euros, which translates to a decrease of 7.3%.

In terms of the types of product exported, “Non-energy products” presented a positive trend with an increase of 974.6 million euros; however, this was not the case for “Energy products”, which were 35.0% lower than the cumulative total for the period to November 2022 (a decrease of 910.4 million euros).

The ten most exported products (customs duty groups) accounted for 41.3% of exports, reaching a total of 12,512.8 million euros, and five of these presented positive growth rates compared to the same period in 2022. The standout products included “Passenger cars with fewer than 10 seats”, which was once again the Basque Country’s largest export category (accounting for 2,991.8 million euros, up 19.9%), and “Goods transport vehicles” (2,000.4 million euros, up 21.7%). “Seamless tubes and hollow profiles made of iron or steel”, “New rubber tyres” and “Vehicle parts and accessories”, up 7.6%, 18.9% and 6.1%, respectively, completed the list of the largest groups with the best performance in this period. Beyond this ranking, attention should be drawn to the considerable growth recorded in “Turbo-reactors, turbo-propellers and other gas turbines, and their parts and components” (41.6%) and “Railway or tramway vehicle parts” (37.9%).

In contrast, it is worth highlighting the significant decrease in “Refined petroleum oils” (down 40.8%, with 975.9 million euros less than in 2022): this is not only due to the decline in prices, given that there was also a significant drop of 33.5% in the number of tonnes exported, which went from 2,871,344 tonnes in 2022 to 1,909,307 tonnes for the cumulative total for 2023.

The ranking of countries to which Basque Country exports were sent was topped by Germany, with 16.1% of the total. Germany was followed by France (15.2%), the United States (8.2%), the United Kingdom (6.2%) and Italy (5.6%). Between them, these five countries accounted for 51.2% of exports, totalling 15,510.5 million euros.

Cumulative imports for the Basque Country as a whole amounted to 25,060 million euros. In year-on-year terms, this figure is 1,889 million euros less than that registered for the same period in 2022. Bizkaia imported goods worth 14,644.7 million euros, which is 10.9% (1,797.9 million euros) less than the equivalent figure for the same period last year. Gipuzkoa’s imports amounted to 4,854.8 million euros, representing a drop of 8.2% (433 million euros). Lastly, Álava was the only province to see a rise in imports (6.6%), with 342 million euros more than the previous year. Some 5,560.2 million euros’ worth of goods were imported during this period.

Imports of “Energy products” were 17.6% lower than in the same period of the previous year, while those of “Non-energy products” were down 2.7%.

Foreign trade of goods in the Basque Country had a positive balance of 5,205 million euros in the first eleven months of 2023 and maintained a positive coverage rate of 120.8%.

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