Traditionally, we compare industry statistics with the previous year. Nevertheless, the statistics of the first part of the year 2020 can be misleading in the comparisons, because the production of slate in Spain was closed for at least 6 weeks, between March and April, due to the containment.
For this reason, we also prefer to include in the comparison the data for the year 2019 (as it was a year without special circumstances), which allows us a more realistic analysis of the figures.
1 – Evolution of exports in the first 4 months of 2019-2020-2021
The increase in tons exported between 2021 and 2020 has increased by almost +25%. This is the logical consequence of a market in which strong demand continues to put pressure on production. However, when comparing 2021 and 2019, the percentage drops to +6.24%, a figure that could reflect production struggling to meet demand, especially due to the low volume of stocks currently available in the sector.
2. – Exports by countries in the first 4 months of 2019-2020-2021
The impact on the main importing countries follows the pattern observed in the cumulative data: strong increase in tons exported in the years 2021-2020 and more balanced increase between 2021 and 2019. This is the scenario found in France and England with increases of +25.99% and +49.86% in the 2021 vs. 2020 data and +3.42% and +7.21% respectively in the 2021 vs. 2019 data.
Germany is one of the few countries that maintained rising numbers during containment and continues to do so today.
Belgium shows similar percentages to France in the 2021 vs. 2020 comparison and varies in the 2021 vs. 2019 data with a +16.21% increase.
The rest of the countries suffers a decline of -7.70% when comparing 2021 vs 2020, probably due to the pressure of demand from more traditional markets, which assumes productions previously intended for these countries with lower volume.
Source: Clúster de la pizarra de Galicia – June 2021