This paper analyses the extent to which the COVID-19 crisis has shifted the Spanish economy’s international competitiveness, creating new opportunities for Spanish businesses. While the drop in Spanish imports and exports post-COVID-19 (close to 40% year-on-year) was comparable to the contraction sustained in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the rebound, with year-on-year growth in exports of over 70% in April 2021, has been far more dynamic.
This raises the question of whether Spain is simply catching-up after trade flows were interrupted in 2020 or whether this is the beginning of a significant structural change in Spanish trading patterns. Although it is still too soon to provide a clear answer to that question, initial data point to a structural shift. Spain’s long-standing non-energy trade deficit turned into a surplus in the first half of 2021.
Additionally, the food industry was the sector which made the biggest contribution to the recovery in exports, fuelled mainly by non-EU markets. The fact that the food sector is a core component of Spain’s export effort, and has a history of robust export-oriented productive capacity, is a possible indicator of a structural improvement in the Spanish economy’s international positioning.
19/01/2026
ESCI-UPF and Politecnico di Milano publish a joint research paper to help organisations and consumers, respectively, with policy and decision-making through the assessment of the social risks associated with different high-protein food alternatives.
10/11/2025
In a study published in the Polymers journal (MDPI), researchers of the UNESCO Chair and LEPAMAP analyse the circular quality of polymers by comparing bio-based and fossil-based polymers with the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology.
28/10/2025
The UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change at ESCI-UPF contributed as a co-author to the article "Promoting health through climate change mitigation in Europe," published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal (2025).
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