The trade deficit decreased by 7.6% in the first 8 months, to 23,799 million euros

Exports reached 255,209 million euros, the second best figure in the historical series for this period

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The trade deficit decreased by 7.6% between January and August compared to the same period of the previous year, to 23,799.7 million euros, as reflected by the Customs trade data collected in the Monthly Foreign Trade Report of the Ministry of Economy. , Commerce and Business, prepared by the Secretary of State for Commerce.

In the accumulated year until August, exports of goods reached 255,209 million euros, the second best figure in the historical series for the same period, although they represent 0.5% less than in the same period of the previous year.

For their part, imports recorded 279,008.6 million euros (1.2% less than the same period of the previous year). The coverage rate, for its part, increased by 0.6 percentage points to 91.5%.

The non-energy deficit decreased by 11.2%, to 3,403.0 million, while the energy deficit maintained its downward trend and was reduced by 7%, to 20,396.6 million euros.

With the European Union, the surplus between January and August increased to 23,156.8 million euros, while the trade deficit with non-EU countries fell to 46,956.5 million. The countries with respect to which the Spanish economy registered the largest surpluses were France (15,116.2 million euros), Portugal (10,020.6 million) and the United Kingdom (8,898 million).

The sectors with the largest surpluses were food, beverages and tobacco (12,801.0 million euros), the automobile sector (5,546.4 million euros) and non-chemical semi-manufacturing (4,548.2 million euros).

By autonomous community, those that observed the most notable growth in their exports were the Canary Islands (20.1%), followed by Castilla y León (16.6%) and Extremadura (12.4%).

The number of regular exporters (those who have exported more than 1,000 euros in the reference year and in each of the three immediately preceding years), grew by 4.9% in the accumulated until August 2024 to 44,419 exporters, exceeding and the figure corresponding to the year 2023 as a whole (43,834). These exported a value of 245,087 million euros, 96% of the total and 2.6% more than in the same period of the previous year.

AUGUST DATA: THE TRADE DEFICIT GROWS BY 7.4%

Regarding the data only for the month of August, the Commerce report reflects that the trade deficit stood at 4,763 million euros, which represents an increase of 7.4% compared to the 4,435.1 million registered in the same period. of 2023.

The energy deficit, which represented more than half of the total deficit, decreased by 1.9% year-on-year to 2,552.9 million, with a decrease in energy imports of 2.2% year-on-year.

Exports for the month of August 2024 reached 26,833.9 million, the second highest value for the month of August and 2.5% higher than the same month of the previous year. In seasonally adjusted terms and with the calendar correction, exports grew by 5.8% year-on-year.

For its part, imports reached 31,597.4 million euros, also the second highest figure in August in the historical series, with a year-on-year growth of 3.2%.

By sector, the surpluses in food, beverages and tobacco (968.2 million euros), non-chemical semi-manufactures (606.3 million) and other merchandise (485.7 million) stood out.

The trade surplus with the European Union increased to 2,946.6 million euros (surplus of 1,720.8 million euros in August 2023). The destination markets where the largest surpluses were achieved in August were Portugal, France and the United Kingdom.