TOLEDO Oct. 18 (EUROPA PRESS) – Exports from Castilla-La Mancha until August 2024 reached the figure of 6,882.7 million euros, which represents an increase of 4.2% compared to the same period in 2023, according to the latest report prepared by this Territorial Directorate of Commerce-ICEX in Castilla-La Mancha, with data provided by the Customs Department of the AEAT to this Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business. In Spain, exports decreased by 0.5%, reaching 255,209.0 million euros. By provinces, until August 2024 Toledo occupied the first position, with 1,981.3 million euros of exports (+3.9%). Guadalajara with 1,731.2 million is in second place (+13.2%). Ciudad Real is the third exporting province, with 1,632.7 million euros (+1.0%), and is followed by the provinces of Albacete with 1,007.4 million euros (+2.2%), and Cuenca, with 530 .1 million euros, which registers a decrease in exports of 6.6%, as reported by the ICEX in a press release. For its part, imports from the region reached 10,893.7 million euros, increasing by 9.5%, while in Spain they fell by 1.2% to 279,008.6 million. By importing provinces, Guadalajara is in first place, with an increase of 8.4%, followed by Toledo (+14.3%), Albacete (+8.6%), Ciudad Real (-6.7%), and Cuenca (+28.4%). The trade balance of the region until August 2024 stood, therefore, at -3,410.9 million euros, while the coverage rate (Xs/Ms) stood at 63.1%, still clearly lower than the national average (91.4%).
EXPORTING SECTORS
Until August 2024, the Food, Beverages and Tobacco sector occupied the first position in regional exports with 2,409.2 million euros, representing 35.0% of the total exported by Castilla-La Mancha and registering an increase of 12.0%. 3% compared to the same period in 2023. Next, Capital Goods stands out with 1,730.8 million euros and an increase of 0.2%, representing 25.1% of all regional exports. In third place are Consumer Manufacturing with 825.9 million euros, registering a decrease of -2.4% and representing 12.0% of the regional total.
IMPORTING SECTORS
Until August 2024, imports from the Capital Goods sectors stand out with 3,552.4 million euros and, an increase of 12.0%, Food, beverages and tobacco with a value of 1,791.8 million euros (+4, 1%) and, Consumer manufacturing with 1,332.9 million euros (+2.5%). For her part, the Minister of Economy, Business and Employment, Patricia Franco, has highlighted the good performance of the province of Guadalajara in that month and of the food and beverage sector, which continues to be the flagship of the region's exports, starring one in every three euros of foreign sales in the month of August and with an accumulated growth of 12.3 percent in the first eight months of the year. Exports from Castilla-La Mancha exceeded 800 million euros in the month of August, which represents a growth of almost 1.5 percent, with uneven performance in the provinces. In this evolution, the province of Guadalajara stands out, with a growth that exceeds 20 percent in interannual terms, exceeding 205.6 million euros, the highest figure in its history in the month of August, the Board reported in press release. The rest of the provinces have been affected by international instability, with falls of 4.4 percent in Albacete, 101.6 million euros; 9.3 percent in Ciudad Real, 164.6 million euros; from 2.45 in Cuenca, 60.6 million euros; and stable in the province of Toledo, with a slight decrease of one tenth, reaching 267.8 million euros exported in the month of August. “Despite the context of international instability, which is affecting the markets, Castilla-La Mancha's exports remain firm, growing by 4.2 percent in the accumulated year compared to the decline of half a point in the country as a whole,” Patricia Franco has indicated, also assessing that “in seven of the eight months counted so far by the ICEX, the region has had a positive evolution in year-on-year terms in exports.” Within this good performance, Patricia Franco has highlighted the food and beverage sector, which exceeds 2.4 billion euros in its output abroad in the first eight months of the year. “In the month of August, this sector accounted for almost 38 percent of exports and in the accumulated amount of the year they account for one in every three euros of the region's international sales,” indicated the counselor, who also pointed out the stability in exports of capital goods, above 1,730 million euros.