Canary Islands exports are going strong

Canary Islands was the autonomous community in which merchandise exports grew the most in the first half of the year, 24.2%, according to data published this Monday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business.

Spain's trade balance deficit stood at 15,822 million euros until June, 3.6% less than in the same period of 2023.

Spanish exports decreased by 2.4%, to 195,105 million, while imports fell by 2.5%, to 210,927 million.

With these figures, the coverage rate -percentage of imports that can be paid with exports- in the first semester increased 0.1 points, to 92.5%.

The deficit without counting energy was very close to equilibrium, with a deficit of just over 138 million, while the energy deficit was reduced by 6.1%, to 15,684.1 million euros.

The export sectors with the largest surplus were: food, beverages and tobacco (10,609.1 million euros), the automotive sector (4,845.2 million) and non-chemical semi-manufactures (3,507.8 million).

Exports to the euro zone were 62.5% of the total, while exports to non-EU destinations represented 37.5% of the total.

A surplus of 18,018.2 million euros was recorded with the European Union in the first six months of the year, while the trade deficit with non-EU countries decreased to 33,840.7 million.

By country, the largest surplus was with France (12,165 million euros), followed by Portugal (7,196.9 million) and the United Kingdom (7,106.5 million).

By autonomous communities, those that observed the most outstanding growth in their exports compared to the same period of 2023 were the Canary Islands (24.2%), Extremadura (14%) and Castilla y León (8.4%).

Regarding the data for the month of June, exports totaled 32,968 million, 3% less, while imports fell 7.3%, to 33,681.7 million euros.

Thus, the trade deficit was reduced by 70%, to 712.9 million euros, details the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business.