Despite the pandemic, until June Albacete companies invoiced 23,4 million euros in sales to the British
With the definitive departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union and part of future trade agreements still to be decided, the figures for exports and imports for the current year allow us to see that something is moving in foreign trade. Nothing traumatic, for now, for Albacete companies connected to the British country, either because they sell products and services there, or because they buy them. A report from the Territorial Directorate of Commerce in Castilla-La Mancha of the Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX) analyzes the operations made from the five provinces of the region with the United Kingdom, both in 2019 and in the current year. The data shows that if last year the province exported to that country for a value of 54 million euros, this 2020 in half a year and with the pandemic involved, exports to the United Kingdom have accounted for 23,4 million euros of turnover. In imports, if 2019 million were reached in 19,7, this first semester it remains at 7,8 million.
Diversify foreign trade it's not easywarn from the association ADIEX
The businessman Iván Torres, president of the Association of Importers and Exporters of Albacete, Adiex, from where the procedure for leaving the EU by the United Kingdom and its consequences has been closely followed with great attention, gave his explanations to La Tribuna. in commercial relations, although it is not the most important market for the province: In 2019 it was the sixth destination of Albacete exports by turnover. Nearly 5.000 commercial operations were carried out by companies from Albacete with the United Kingdom, only in exports, when there were about 79.0000 export operations from the province to the whole world. Iván Torres commented that these data must be taken into account, and also the possible influence of the pandemic and the slowdown in activity that it caused: «The ICEX report does not allow us to see how much of the decrease in exports is due to the pandemic; We will have to see at the end of the year, but the truth is that we are more or less at 2019 figures, a little below; That drop may be due to Covid, it will be one of the reasons, also the uncertainty of the Brexit agreement or non-agreement; Between one thing and another, I would say that they are not bad figures, it seems that we fulfilled what was last year.
THOROUGHLY
Adiex predicts that foreign trade will suffer more in 2021 than this year
The balance of total exports from the province in the first semester represents 11,5% less turnover, a drop in which the pandemic is a direct cause. 37.000 commercial operations were made in those six months, compared to almost 41.000 last year in the same period. The president of Adiex, predicted that "the decrease in business in 2020 will not be as much as next year, because this year many sales commitments were already made, and that is maintained." In addition, "there are behaviors in Agriculture that have helped to maintain, garlic, onion, they have performed very well, we will see it at the end of the year." In 2021 “yes there can be a significant contraction, there will be a battlefield due to a decrease in investment, in general; in the figures for 20210 nothing is seen as drastic as one might expect, taking into account the stoppage of the Covid-19 ».
GET PREPARED. The president of Adiex said that although there are fringes still in negotiation to establish the new panorama of commercial relations with the United Kingdom, everything is quite clear to export or import when the time comes, and the companies have already walked that distance that involves preparing the stage , without the new status of the United Kingdom entailing a drastic change: «Companies have to adapt to the new situation, they should already be applying internal adaptation policies for all customs documentation, and treat the United Kingdom as a country third. The United Kingdom is already publishing the tariff rates to be applied, that is, the outlook should be more or less smoothed out, the discussions today are more about fishing, people smuggling, the Irish border... Now there is not so much negotiation about operations of import and export, which is more or less clear. The Albacete association does not predict important movements, when this new status is a reality, Torres said, «having the tariffs and treating the British market as a third country does not imply great complexity, there will be cases of all, there will be products that with a high price margin the cost can be assumed; each sector will be one way, agri-food products are more competitive, and high-end products are not, it may be that the customs cost is assumed by both parties, there is no other ». For companies, the best option is to have alternative markets, other countries. The data for 2019 show the strength of exports from the province in the United States, to Poland, Ukraine or Brazil. But finding those markets for someone who has part of their business done in an EU country is not something easy, said Torres: «It is advisable to diversify, it is nice to say it but it is very complicated to carry it out; This is a very particular case, at first it did not seem that someone was going to leave the EU, but it is happening; Going to do trade with all the facilities to consider another country, it is something expensive, it requires extensive planning, but the companies that are in export are used to it ».
Food and drinks are the best-selling products on the islands
In five years the turnover of products and services from the province to the British country rose by 18 million
The statistics of exports from the province of Albacete to the United Kingdom show a considerable increase in the last five years. In 2015, the turnover from sales in that country stood at 36 million euros, and in 2019 it reached 54 million, although in reality last year's figure is somewhat lower than the figure obtained in 2018. Official data shows that food and beverages are the main group of products that companies from Albacete sell in the United Kingdom, although there are sectors of all kinds, including footwear, with close to a million euros billed in the first quarter of this year.
6 below
France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the United States are ahead of the United Kingdom in terms of destinations for exports from Albacete. Exports to France are four times higher.
53 Companies with commercial relationship
THE ICEX REPORT says that there are 53 companies in the province that exported to the United Kingdom in 2019 -this year in the first semester there are 35- although the data may fall short, because there are also companies that have commercial relations with other countries through brokerage agencies from other territories, and these operations do not appear as made directly from Albacete.
MARCELO ORTEGA / ALBACETE
Source: The Tribune of Albacete
