The Exporters and Investors Club is positive about the export figures for the first half of the year

The Spanish Exporters and Investors Club values as very positive the export figures for the period January-June 2021, which have amounted to 153,000 million euros, already standing at higher levels than the same period of 2019, before the pandemic by COVID-19 became present. 

For the Exporters' Club, the figures announced this day by the Secretary of State for Trade, corresponding to the first half of the year, are proof that Spanish companies, as was already the case during the 2008 crisis, are seeing internationalisation as the formula for maintaining their sales and minimising the adverse effects that the pandemic has had on the domestic market. 

As the published data indicate, imports have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels, which shows that domestic demand has not yet picked up. In fact, Spanish goods imports in the first half of 2021 are at levels reached in 2018.

"As was already the case in 2008, Spanish companies are showing great maturity in jumping into international markets and overcoming the crisis," says Antonio Bonet, president of the Exporters' Club. "That is why it is so important for the government to promote measures to increase business competitiveness. I am referring, in particular, to improving business taxation, with special attention to international taxation, removing rigidities in the labour market and improving export financing," he adds.

The Exporters' Club highlights that the growth of Spanish companies' exports of goods in the first half of the year (23.3%) was much higher than that recorded by Germany (16.7%) or France (17.4%), and similar to that of the United States or Japan, although slightly lower than that of Italy (24.2%). 

In the first half of the year, the main export sectors were: capital goods; food, beverages and tobacco; and chemical products. In addition, the Exporters' Club stresses that the automotive sector has started to recover exports, despite the problems of chip supply.

More worrying, however, is the fact that the euro zone continues to be the main market for Spanish exports, increasing its relative importance in the first half of the year.

"The restrictions on international mobility that still persist may be at the root of this trend; in any case, we should be very attentive to this indicator, as the opportunities for greater business growth abroad, rather than in the euro zone or in Europe, will be in the coming years in the Asian regions and even in Africa, and the competitiveness factor is crucial to penetrate them," points out Antonio Bonet.