Catalan exports continue to set records: up 2.1% with over €48.5 bn as of September

• The growth of exports is above the average registered for the euro zone and the EU
• Sales abroad from Catalonia make up 25.8% of all exports from Spain 

Sales from Catalonia abroad continue to set new records, now six in a row. Over the first nine months of the year, the accumulated volume of sales from Catalonia abroad hit €48.583 billion, up 2.1% from the same period last year for a new all-time record.

In September, Catalan exports totaled €5.7464 billion, up 2.4% from the same period in 2015, with growth above that of the euro zone (0%), the European Union (-0.9%) and benchmark countries like Germany (1%), France (-1.5%) and the United Kingdom (-4.3%). The Catalan government gave a very positive assessment of these figures, as it was the best September ever in terms of sales abroad by Catalan companies.

In this regard, it must be noted that sales abroad from Catalonia make up 25.8% of all exports from Spain, three tenths more than the figure for all of 2015, when they were 25.5% of the total. It must be noted that Catalan exports totaled €63.84 billion in 2015. This data was published by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).

The most dynamic sectors of the Catalan economy, which alone account for 60.8% of all exports, include the chemical sector with €12.7895 billion (+1%); capital goods, with €9.0698 billion (+13.2%) and the automotive sector, with €7.6632 billion (-1.6%). These percentages are the year-on-year variation for the January-September period.

These figures, in short, reveal that the Catalan economy is becoming increasingly internationalized and that this internationalization is part of the tradition and very nature of the Catalan business fabric. It has become an ongoing commitment, beyond a temporary solution to the crisis of internal demand in Spain.