Vitoria, (EFE).- Basque exports rose 26.5% in March, reaching 3,312 million euros, the all-time high.
Imports grew 14.9% as they reached 2,571 million euros. With these data, in March of this year there was a positive trade balance of 741.1 million euros, Eustat reported this Thursday.
The increase in exports occurred in the three territories. It was 40.3% in Álava, 34% in Gipuzkoa and 1.3% in Bizkaia.
More than half of the goods exported from Álava were “Transport material” (54.9%), with an increase of 61.8% (538 million exported).
In Gipuzkoa, sales of “Material, machines and electrical appliances” (35.2%) and those of “Transport material” (83.4%) grew.
The most significant thing in Bizkaia is the drop in exports of “Mineral and energy products” (-48.2%) with 138.5 million less.
Strong increase in passenger car exports
The ten main items concentrated 40.5% of Basque exports, with a combined value of 1,341.8 million euros. Of note are “Cars with fewer than 10 people” (59.8% interannual rate) with 275.5 million exported, 103 million more than the same month of the previous year and “Vehicles for the transport of goods” (118% and 193.4 million).
But it also stands out “Fishing boats and factory boats for the treatment of marine products” (72.8 million, basically from Gipuzkoa bound for Greenland and the Bahamas).
The most important import items were “Crude petroleum or bituminous mineral oils” (14.5% of the total), with a drop of 17.9% and 81.1 million less than in the same month of 2022, for some total purchases of 371.9 million.
“Petroleum oils” grew a lot (1,155.8%) of which 181 million were imported, basically diesel and some fuel. There was an increase in “Petroleum gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons” (157.9% and 92.8 million) and “Electric accumulators and their parts” (154.2%), among others.
Sales increase 21% until March
With the data for March, in the first quarter of this year, Basque exports grew by 21.2% and imports by 11.1%, with a surplus in the foreign trade balance of 1,800 million euros.
The total exporter for this period is 8,956.3 million, being Bizkaia, with 3,407 million (38% of the total), the one that contributed the most to the export effort, followed by Álava (2,859 million) and Gipuzkoa (2,690 million).
Image of the exterior of the Mercedes Benz plant in Vitoria. EFE/Adrián Ruiz de Hierro
Exports from Álava experienced the greatest year-on-year increase (31.5%), 684.5 million more than in 2022. In Guipúzcoa, the increase was 24% (520.4 million more) and in Bizkaia 11.8% (360 million more).
“Cars with less than 10 people” were the item with the highest export volume in the Basque Country with 850.9 million exported and a growth rate of 51.6%.
The accumulated imports were 7,128 million euros, 715 million more than in the same period of 2022, an increase of 11.1% because in Bizkaia (with imports of 4,153.3 million) there was a growth of 14.7 %, 531.6 million more.
Imports increased in Álava, 12.5% with 177.4 million euros more, and in Gipuzkoa, a territory that showed a very slight rise of 0.4% and 5.9 million euros; the value of what is imported reaches 1,599.8 and 1,374.7 million euros in these two territories. EFE
