Xifres de comerç exterior d'Espanya

Foreign Trade in Figures

Spain is open to foreign trade, which represented 60% of its GDP in 2020 (down from 67% one year earlier - World Bank). The country mainly exports motor cars (10.1%), medicaments, petroleum products other than crude, and vehicle parts; importing crude oil (5.5% of total imports), cars and vehicle parts, medicaments, telephones and petroleum gas.

According to data by Comtrade, in 2020 the main destinations for Spanish exports included France (15.4%), Germany (10.8%), Italy (7.5%), Portugal (7.3%) and the UK (6%); while imports came chiefly from Germany (11.8%), China (10.2%), France (9.9%), Italy (6.2%) and the U.S. (4.9%).

The country's trade balance for merchandise is structurally negative due to high imports of fuel and high added-value goods; although the trade in services is generally positive. In 2020, Spanish exports and imports were severely affected by the global crisis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic: figures from WTO show that exports of goods decreased by 8% y-o-y (at USD 307 billion), as imports lost 12.8% (USD 325 billion). Trade in services followed a similar trend, with exports almost halved (-42.7% y-o-y) at USD 89.6 billion and imports totalling USD 60.2 billion (-29.5% y-o-y). In the same year, the overall trade balance of the country was positive (at almost 1.5% of GDP, down from 2.9% the previous year - World Bank). According to the latest data available from the Spanish Institute of Statistics, in the first ten months of 2021 exports of goods grew by 21.1% year-on-year to EUR 258,6 billion, while imports increased by 22.1% year-on-year to EUR 275,3 billion. In volume terms, exports rose by 13.3% y-o-y, and imports increased by 12.7%.