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.
09/04/2024
In a new paper published in Heliyon Journal, researchers from the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change ESCI-UPF contribute to a better understanding of the role of circularity by evaluating two indicators for two different packaging systems within the Spanish fresh food sector.
02/04/2024
Researchers affiliated with the ESCI-UPF's UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change and the Swiss company Deasyl have published a pioneering study exploring sustainable solutions for wood waste to address pressing environmental challenges from academic and private perspectives and assessing both the environmental and economic impacts. The collaborative effort involved other researchers from the University of Girona, WAB-Group, and the University Pompeu Fabra.
21/03/2024
Our researchers, Alba Bala and Ilija Sazdovski, participated in the publication of a scientific research paper emphasizing the critical importance of rigorously applying methodology when comparing two different systems (single-use and reusable) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
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