Analysis: What does each Spanish province export?

The Rhenus Group has carried out a detailed analysis of Spanish export data for the year 2022, provided by the Spanish Tax Agency, to examine the performance of each province. The results show that France is the top export destination in more than half of the provinces, road transport leads the logistics flows in 79% of the territory and cars are the most exported sector in many regions.

The study highlights the sectoral diversification of provincial exports, with 27 different products on the map of foreign sales, depending on the industries located in each territory and international demand. Vehicles are the most exported goods in seven provinces: Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Álava, Navarra, Valladolid and Palencia.

Fuels come second in the ranking, with six provinces. This is followed by electrical appliances, which appear in five of them. Behind this, three sectors have the best performance in three different provinces: meat products, pharmaceuticals and iron and steel foundries.

However, chemical products, the main contributor to Spain's export performance in 2022, are the top exporter in only one province. Similarly, fruit and vegetable products, which were the top export sector in ten provinces in Rhenus' analysis last year, have dropped to just two in this edition.

The analysis, available on the Rhenus website, also examines the first country of destination and the most used mode of transport for exports from each province. In this respect, the results are much more homogeneous. France is the main market for a total of 27 provinces, while in 41 provinces the lorry is the most used means of transport.

The dominance of France as the main export market extends particularly to the north-east of the peninsula. In this sense, all the provinces of Catalonia and Aragon have this country as their main industrial destination. To a lesser extent, there is a similar trend in the north and east of Spain. In the south, however, only one province in Andalusia, Malaga, has France as its leading market.

Portugal is the leading market in 2022 for a total of ten provinces, twice as many as in the previous year's analysis, with a strong presence in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. Germany repeats in the same seven provinces as in the 2021 analysis, while Italy leads in two. Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco and Gibraltar complete the list of destinations.

Road transport, a driving force for exports

As in last year's analysis carried out by the Rhenus Group, trucks are once again the main means of transport for exports in 41 provinces. This confirms its importance throughout the peninsula and its ability to work with all sectors and a wide range of goods.

"These results highlight the competitive advantage of road transport for Spanish exporters," says Andreu Gutiérrez, Country Sales Director Road at Rhenus Logistics in Spain. "It is very significant to see how goods vary from province to province, and even from destination to destination, and that the truck remains the common denominator of these operations, demonstrating its flexibility to adapt to all types of traffic."

Maritime transport is the first option for ten Spanish provinces: the three Spanish islands (the Balearic Islands, Las Palmas, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Cádiz, Huelva, Seville, Asturias, Castellón, Lugo, and Murcia. Finally, the railway is the leading exporter in only one province: Palencia.

"Studying export data gives us valuable information to better understand trade flows, the most popular means of transport in each province, for each type of industry and destination," explains Sergio Alquézar, Head of Sales of Rhenus Air & Ocean in Spain. Regarding this latter analysis, he notes "a trend towards the concentration of the main markets in certain regions, so we will remain vigilant in order to respond at all times with the logistics solutions that Spanish companies need for their export traffic."

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