Tourism is the Balearics largest export, but it sits in a category of its own when it comes to information about the value of the islands' exports. The national ministry for economic affairs and competitiveness groups export categories according to the primary sector (agriculture where the Balearics are concerned), manufacturing and industry. In the case of the Balearics, it therefore supplies data for a range of items, such as potatoes, furniture and leather goods.
Between January and September this year, the value of Balearic exports went up from 703 million euros over the first three quarters of 2016 to 1,378 million euros. In percentage terms, as this was getting on for 100%, the Balearics had the highest increase in export value among the regions of Spain.
Trade minister Iago Negueruela naturally considers this rise to be very positive. "It is helping to consolidate economic growth and it also shows the capacity for Balearic businesses to find new markets for their products." The highest earning single manufacturing category was footwear, which was worth 73.5 million euros. Most valuable, though, is a range of "other articles", which includes the sale of boats; this was 1,216 million, an increase of 125%.
There was a notable drop in the value of potato exports. This was down from 8.7 million to 6.9 million. The decline is attributed to the pound exchange rate; the UK is the biggest market for potatoes. The floods at the start of the year will also have had an impact.
Another sector where there was a fall in value was furniture. This went down almost 20% to 16.6 million euros. One reason for this was that there was less demand from hoteliers furnishing establishments overseas, especially in Central America and the Caribbean.
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