Catalan exports of products with high technology content fell by 15.8% year-on-year in the first quarter, to 2,841 million euros, the Instituto Destástica de Catalunya (Idescat) said on Monday. The decline occurred in all groups in this category. Sales of pharmaceutical products amounted to 2,229.5 million, i.e. 15.2% less; While the group consisting of computers, electronic and optical products sold 596.3 million euros, or 11.8% less. By geographical region, the most notable decline was sales outside the European Union, which decreased by 21.6% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Sales within the European Union also decreased by 8.8%.
Foreign sales of low and medium technology level products, amounting to EUR 2,003.9 million, fell by 13.9% year on year. The group of rubber and plastic materials, non-metallic minerals and mining products decreased by 5.8%, the group of mineral products by 12.4%, and the group of other products (such as coke, oil refining products, ships and boats) decreased by 32.2%. %. By geographic region, sales in the European Union decreased by 9.7% and sales to the rest of the world by 23.3%.
Total sales of low-tech products amounted to EUR 5,989.3 million, representing a decrease of 2.5% year-on-year. Sales in the European Union increased by 4.0%, while sales to the rest of the world decreased by 13.7%.
On the other hand, during the first quarter of 2024, purchases of industrial products abroad recorded a decline at all technological levels compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The decline in imports of products with high technology content was the most pronounced among the four levels (-17.4%) and particularly affected purchases in the rest of the world (-29.7%), where EU imports fell significantly less (-4.3%). In contrast, high-level imports decreased by 8.6%, low-level imports by 15.2%, and low-level imports by 5.2%.
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