Valencia port can handle all types of traffic, including Business Links
passenger traffic. The port has over 12,000m of docks, Spain is among Ireland’s top 10 export markets and
including 1,820m of container terminal space and 577m of therefore is an area of opportunity for Irish businesses. The
ro/ro terminal space. The port is well connected by road and Spanish government are continually striving for a liberalized
rail to Madrid and the major production centres of the market which will continue to drive deregulation of
Iberian Peninsula. production markets. The Iberian peninsula has a combined
population of 50 million people - a significant target market
The Port of Castellon has three berths dedicated to ro/ro for Irish consumer products. In 2003, a market awareness
traffic, as well as two terminals specialized in liquid bulk campaign was undertaken in the market, which has
transport. Cold storage facilities also exist for the port’s increased awareness of Ireland as a source of quality
citrus fruit traffic. products, with the main opportunities in the giftware and
fashion areas. In the pharmaceutical sector Spain is the
Trade seventh largest pharmaceuticals market.
Spain has a population of 40 million and GDP per head is
approximately €20,000. The Spanish economy has been Ireland and Spain have had a double taxation agreement
growing at rates above the European average, with growth since the 1970’s. This is very important particularly in the
in 2007 reaching 3.8 per cent
8
. Overall trade between telecom’s and financial sectors. Spain is the most advanced
Ireland and Spain was over €4bn in 2007. Spain is the fifth country in terms of telecommunications and has 2 of the
largest European market for indigenous Irish exports. biggest European banks.
Growth in both exports and imports between 2006 and
2007 was negligible, registering at less than 1 per cent. This
is in contrast with the impressive growth in trade since
2004, which saw import and export growth rates peaking Agency Details:
page 3
at 28 per cent and 23 per cent respectively in 2005. Enterprise Ireland
www.enterprise-ireland.com
The largest commodities exported to Spain by value are
medical and pharmaceutical products (€587million), Industrial Development Agency (IDA)
organic chemicals (€507million), and essential oils www.idaireland.ie
fice
(€495million). Medical and pharmaceutical product exports
grew by more than 10 per cent between 2006 and 2007. Shortsea Promotion Centre, Spain
Spain is the seventh largest market for pharmaceuticals and www.shortsea.es
the use of Irish-manufactured generics is on the rise.
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Spain
is an important destination for the Irish food and drinks
sector, with export values reaching €298million in 2007, a
5 per cent increase from 2006. Another growth area is
metalliferous ores & metal scrap, which grew by over 20
per cent in 2007, which is also the largest export by volume,
comprising almost half of the total volume exported.
The main import commodity in terms of value is road
vehicles, which comprises 38 per cent of the total value of
imports and ranks 6th in terms of volume. The Spanish
citrus fruit industry is another important sector. Imports of
fruit and vegetables rank second by value, increasing 11 per
cent on 2006 figures. In volume terms, crude fertilizer was
the largest commodity imported, 35 per cent of the total
volume of imports. There was a large fall in the volume of
non-crude fertilizer imported, with volume imported down
to 88,085 tonnes in 2007 from 166,152 tonnes in 2006.
Irish Maritime Development Of
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https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sp.html
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Enterprise Ireland
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