Spanish automotive component exports closed 2021 with a 10% increase

In 2021, the Spanish automotive supplier sector exported €19,669 million, which means a 10% increase compared to 2020.Regarding 2019, a -5.2% decrease is observed. This shows the Spanish industry dynamism at international markets since it has been able to recover most of the pre-pandemic levels. These good results are encouraged by the performance of some of our commercial partners inside the EU and relevant automotive markets such as USA, China or Mexico.

Understanding European Union as a block, these are the most relevant destinations for automotive Spanish suppliers in 2021: EU, UK, USA, Morocco, China, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Japan and Russia

What were the most important destinations for Spanish suppliers in the EU in 2021? 

European Union gathers sales figures representing 66.4% of the global market share. In this way, EU sales increased 9.8% internally with a slight -3.2% decrease compared to 2019.

• Germany recovers, compared to last year, its position as main sector’s commercial partner. Sales to this market had an 11% growth internally to reach €3,376 million. However, a -6% decrease compared to 2019 is still observed.
• France, the second most relevant market, shows a -2.8% decrease with sales figures of €3,083 million. Compared to 2019, the French market shows a -9.7% contraction.
• Regarding Portugal and Italy, third and fourth relevant clients with respective €1,676 and €1,033 million sales figures, they grew 10.9% interannually in the first case and 17.8% in the second. It is worth noting that the Spanish market shows are +5.2% increase compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019. 
•  The rest of European markets show a good performance of exports during 2021 and, therefore, show positive international rates: Poland (+18.2%), Czech Republic (+6.1%), Slovakia (+20.8%), Belgium (+13.3%), and Holland (+22%). Comparing to 2019, there are highlights in growth rates in priority markets in central Europe such as Poland (+6%), Slovakia (+5.8%) or Czech Republic (+1%). 

What are the 10 main Outside-EU export destinations for Spanish automotive suppliers in 2021?

Outside European Union, the main market for exports is United Kingdom, it shows a -8.6% decrease which is worth €1,100 million in sales. Compared to 2019, the decrease is more dramatic, reaching a -26.4%. 

United States consolidates its position at second commercial partner with a +14,5% inter-annual growth to reach export figures of €1,087 million euros. Compared to 2019, it shows a +6.9% growth, that displays the influence this market is acquiring for the Spanish automotive providers. 

Exports to Morocco have slightly dropped in 2021: -1.2% to reach €132 million. Comparing to 2019, the contraction in this market reaches a -13.7%.

At the contrary, China shows up +18.5% inter-annual growth, a clear display of this economy’s dynamism, with an export volume of €583 million. In fact, Spanish exports in 2021 increased +32.1% compared to pre-pandemic periods which shows how the Spanish offer is increasing its market share little by little.

Markets such as Mexico and Russia only show an inter-annual growth of +38% and 28% respectively but comparing to 2019 they show a of +5.1% and +17.1% growth.

Turkey (+7.2%), South Africa (+10.4%) and Japan (+37.5%) show a good performance in 2021, with total figures of €321, €235 and €229 million, respectively, however no 2019 levels were reached.