Spain's exports rise by 4.9% in first semester

 Spanish exports rose by 4.9 percent in the first semester of the year when compared with the same period of a year earlier, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to the ministry of economy and competitiveness, exports reached 125.122 billion euros (138.085 billion U.S. dollars), hitting a record high and rising by 4.9 percent in comparison with a year earlier.

Exports shipped to European Union countries rose by 6.8 percent from January to June, representing 65 percent of the total, with France, Italy and Germany receiving most of the goods shipped from Spain.

Exports shipped to the Unites States rose by 10.6 percent, those sent to Latin America rose by 7.9 percent, and goods shipped to Asia, the Middle East and Oceania increased by 10 percent, 21 percent and 16 percent respectively.

Exports to Brazil fell by 8.0 percent in the first six months of the year and those to Russia plummeted by 41 percent.

In general, exports to Africa fell by 1.8 percent, primarily due to a fall in exports shipped to Algeria, mainly automobiles and motorbikes. Meanwhile, exports shipped to Egypt rose by 30 percent.

Exports shipped to China increased by 4.5 percent in the first six months of the year. Spain's State Secretary of Trade, Jaime Garcia-Legaz, said the yuan devaluation would have a negative impact on Spanish exports in the short term, while having positive consequences for those Spanish investors with factories in China that export to other countries.

Garcia-Legaz pointed out that measures carried out by the Chinese government should help its economy, commenting that "it is welcomed that the second world's economy corrects its macroeconomic unbalances".

In Spain, Garcia-Legaz expects exports to hit a new record high in 2015.

On the other hand, imports reached 136.603 billion euros in the first six months of the year, rising by 4.2 percent when compared with a year earlier. Imports of capital goods rose by 17.2 percent, those of energy rose by 13.3 percent and those of the automobile sector rose by 17.9 percent.