Spain | An analysis of Spanish exports

The objective of the work is to analyze the historical evolution of Spanish exports, their composition and characteristics, in addition to Spain's participation in global value chains. A strategy is also identified to improve the complexity of foreign sales.

Key points

• Key points:
• Despite its growing trend, the weight of Spanish exports on GDP is far from European levels.
• Spain is a country whose integration into global value chains is asymmetrical. The weight of intermediate goods in imports is greater than in exports. Furthermore, the country's participation is concentrated more in traditional industrial branches than in high value-added services.
• Only 20% of Spanish production refers to international production processes and in addition the length of the chains is shorter than in the rest of the developed countries. This situation can represent an advantage for Spain during international supply crises, but can limit the reach of Spanish industry in times of prosperity.
• Spain occupies 34th position in the world ranking of complexity, behind most countries in the European Union, but its potential is high since its export and production structure is prepared to include more complex items.
• Within the strategy of diversification and increased complexity for Spain, through a principal components analysis we highlight that the country could focus its export efforts on specialized machinery, medicines or high-performance chemicals.

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