The turnover of the Spanish industry continues to evolve downwards. Sales in the sector decreased by 5.3% last July compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data released this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In contrast, billing in the services sector returned to positive rates after falling for the first time in 27 months in June.
The decline in the industry's turnover is attributed to the fall in sales of energy and intermediate goods, which decreased by 33.3% and 11.3%, respectively. Thus, the turnover of the industrial sector has had four months of year-on-year declines, although that of July was less pronounced than that registered in June (-7%). In addition to energy and intermediate goods, sales of durable consumer goods also decreased (-9.2%). On the contrary, those of capital goods (9.6%) and non-durable consumer goods (6.5%) increased.
Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, the decrease in sales was 5.2% year-on-year. The branches that increased their turnover the most were the manufacturing of electronic components (26.3%) and the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (24.4%). While the largest year-on-year declines were recorded by coke plants and petroleum refining (-33.3%) and the chemical industry (-23.7%), except for cleaning and polishing items, perfumes and cosmetics.
In monthly terms (July over June) and in data corrected for seasonality and calendar, the industry increased its sales by 0.8%, in contrast to the 2.8% decrease experienced the previous month. All sectors presented positive rates except durable consumer goods, where turnover fell by 2.7%.
By territory, the sector's turnover increased in five autonomous communities in an interannual rate, while it decreased in 12 regions. The largest increases occurred in Navarra (30.7%), La Rioja (9.4%) and the Canary Islands (7%), while the sharpest decreases were recorded in Asturias (-21%), Murcia (-17, 8%) and Andalusia (-16%).
On the other hand, the improvement in the evolution of the services sector, whose billing rose 1.5% last July compared to the same month in 2022, was a consequence of the rebound in sales in other services, while commerce recorded a year-on-year drop of 0.6% motivated by the decline in sales in wholesale trade (-6.7%). On the other hand, the sale and repair of vehicles and motorcycles had a turnover of 17.7% more, and the turnover of retail trade was 7.9% higher than that of the same month of the previous year.
For their part, other services increased their sales by 5.4%, driven by professional activities (12.3%), information and communications (11.7%), hospitality (6.3%) and administrative activities. which billed 5.8% more. On the other hand, transportation and storage sales fell 3.6%. Within the hospitality industry, accommodation services increased their turnover by 7.2%, while food and beverage services invoiced 5.6% more than in July 2022.
By activities, the largest year-on-year increases in sales were recorded by other professional, scientific and technical activities (28.5%) and the sale of vehicles and motorcycles, which increased by 19.7%.
The majority of autonomous communities raised the billing of their services last July compared to the same month in 2022, with the exception of Madrid (-1.8%), Navarra (-1.5%) and Aragón (-0.7 %). The greatest advances in sales occurred in the Balearic Islands (11.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (6.5%) and Asturias and La Rioja (6.4% in both cases), while the most moderate were recorded in Valencian Community (0.7%) and Castilla y León (1.1%).
Corrected for calendar effects and seasonality, the billing of the services sector rose 1.2% in July compared to the same month in 2022, a rate two points higher than that of June.
