Rhenus News

Analysis: The high-tech market in Spain boosts exports and sets a new import record

The high-tech logistics industry is facing challenges due to continuous supply chain changes. An analysis carried out by Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain, however, shows the positive performance of IT and electronic products.

The high-tech industry in Spain closes 2021 by increasing its foreign trade volumes, with a growth of two percent in exports and seven percent in imports, according to data from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. After the fall in the sales of high-tech products abroad in 2020, Spain has recovered its position with 25,424 million euros and is close to the best historical data achieved in 2019. For their part, the imports manage to break their record, amounting to 45,804 million euros.

With these results, the net export balance of high-tech increases the trade deficit to 20.38 billion euros, 2.5 billion euros more than in the previous year. These figures confirm the trend toward a lower Spanish export intensity in the activities of pharmaceutical manufacturing (CNAE 21), computer, electronic and optical products manufacturing (CNAE 26) and aeronautical and space construction and machinery (CNAE 30.3), which constitute the high-tech manufacturing sectors.

An analysis carried out by Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain, a market leader specialising in warehousing solutions and the high-tech sector, highlights the positive performance of IT and electronic products. This segment shows a growth of more than 10 percent in both exports and imports during 2021. Specifically, this merchandise trade with Spain accounts for over half of high-tech imports. As for exports, pharmaceuticals are the most important, accounting for almost half of the sales.

The high-tech market faces increasing logistical challenges

A key element in this analysis is the period of “enormous complexity for high-tech logistics,” points out Julio Sáez, Business Development Director of Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain.  In his opinion, “in addition to the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, the high-tech industry has been affected by the specific crisis in semiconductors. This situation forces companies to redefine new strategies to protect their supply chain against risks not yet considered.” 

Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain considers that, in this scenario, it is essential to have a partner specialised in the warehousing of high-tech products, who has experience in the particularities of this market and specific solutions that offer added value to the needs. “High-tech logistics requires great agility and flexibility to adapt to seasonality and handle demand peaks quickly and efficiently,” says José Ignacio López, Sales Manager of Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Spain.

In this regard, José Ignacio López highlights the competitive advantage of warehousing solutions with an international dimension with structure and capacity in the source and destination markets. “The current environment is forcing many companies to drastically change their supply chain, with continuous revisions of production schedules, adapting them to the moment, extending procurement deadlines in search of new suppliers in new countries. Therefore, partners must provide efficient warehousing solutions to give a global response,” says the Rhenus Warehousing Business Development Manager.