Andalusia closed the year 2022 as the autonomous community that exported the most products to the rest of Spain and with the highest trade surplus among all the communities in the country, surpassing Catalonia for the first time.
It is one of the data that emerges from the Weekly Economic Observatory, which the Minister of Economy, Finance and European Funds, Carolina España, presented this Tuesday to the Governing Council.
The Weekly Economic Observatory, which uses the C-intereg project of the Center for Economic Prediction (Ceprede) as a source, highlights that Andalusia sold products for 48,157 million euros in 2022, the highest figure since the beginning of the historical series in 1995. In addition, the difference between foreign sales and purchases shows a surplus of 23,955 million euros, which is also a record figure.
In this sense, exports from Andalusia to the rest of Spain have grown by 36.8% in 2022 compared to 2021. And the surplus, 62.5% in relation to the previous year. Average exports in the autonomous communities as a whole have grown by only 5.3%.
On the other hand, the Weekly Economic Observatory also highlights that exports abroad also reached historical records in the month of March, both in relation to sales for that month (3,963.9 million euros), and in terms of to the accumulated figure for the first quarter (10,379 million euros).
In March, the recovery of positive growth rates of agri-food exports stands out, as well as the fact that Andalusia has achieved a surplus between exports and exports (531 million), which contrasts with the deficit registered at the national level (-157 .7 million euros).
Other indicators
The registration of vehicles has also registered record figures in the first four months of the year, with a cumulative number of 36,464 registered passenger cars up to the month of April in Andalusia, its highest figure in the same period since 2019 (48,995 vehicles up to April), and 19 .5% more than in the same period of 2022. Along with this, the registration of cargo vehicles has grown by 6% year-on-year so far this year.
Likewise, the turnover of the market services sector in Andalusia increased in the same month by 14.1% year-on-year, 4.3 points more than in the previous month (9.8%), standing more than four points above the national average (9.8%).
In cumulative terms, in the first quarter of 2023, growth of 13.6% year-on-year was recorded in Andalusia, three and a half points above that registered in Spain (10.1%). Employment increased by 1.9% year-on-year in Andalusia, the same as at the national level.
In addition, the turnover of the industry in Andalusia, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) registered an increase in March, after a slight fall in the previous month, showing a positive balance in the first quarter of the year (1. 8%).
Thus, the growth of the General Industry Turnover Index in Andalusia was 1.2% year-on-year in March, with notable increases in the Extractive Industry (33.1%). The Manufacturing industry grew by 0.6%, with outstanding increases in the manufacture of motor vehicles (117.3%) and the manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (59.2%).
