El Mundo flags Spain export slump

Spain’s problem is not that the economy suddenly stopped. It didn’t. GDP still grew 0.6% in the first quarter. The problem is where the weakness showed up. The soft spots were goods exports and business investment — basically the two places you want to look healthy if manufacturers are meant to keep pushing abroad. (elmundo.es) ### What actually weakened? Goods exports from Spain fell 2.05% from January to March versus the previous quarter, which made this the biggest quarterly drop since 2021. That is the headline number. It matters because exports had been one of the cleaner ways for Spain to grow without leaning entirely on domestic demand. Instead, foreign sales of goods went backward. (elmundo([elmundo.es)n’t Spain still grow? Yes — but the mix got worse. Services exports, including tourism and non-tourism services, rose 2.1% in the quarter and helped offset the hit from goods. Imports also lost momentum, which softened the damage to the trade balance. So the economy kept moving, but with a less reassuring engine mix than before. (elmundo.es)Because exporters do not just need orders. They need confidence to spend on machinery, facilities, software, and product upgrades. Spain’s gross fixed capital formation rose only 0.4% in the quarter, down from growth rates above 2% in earlier quarters. El Mundo also noted weakness across construction, machinery, and intellectual property. That is what “investment softened” looks like in practice. (elmundo.es) ### So is this a demand shock or a competitiveness problem? Turns out it looks like both. The backdrop includes U.S. tariffs, broader international uncertainty tied to conflict in the Middle East, and a competitiveness squeeze from labor costs and final prices rising faster in Spain than in some nearby economies. Earlier this year, El Mundo highlighted that Spain’s 2025 goods(elmundo.es)terly drop look less like a one-off wobble and more like an exposed weakness. (elmundo.es) ### Where do packaging rules enter the story? Here is the catch — exporters now face a second problem that is not about demand at all. Regulation (EU) 2025/40, the EU’s new packaging and packaging waste framework, entered into force on 11 February 2025 and will generally apply from 12 August 2026. It covers all packaging placed on the EU market and sets requirements around manufacturing, composition, recyclability, waste reduction, and some substances of concern. (eur-lex.europa.eu) ### Does that mean every exporter must redesign packaging now? Not every package gets blown up overnight, but a lot of firms will need to check labels, materials, documentation, and supplier declarations much more carefully. The rule is broad by design — it covers packaging across materials and sectors, and the Commission has already had to publish implementation guidance and FAQs in March 2026 to help bus(eur-lex.europa.eu)ance burden is real, even before enforcement bites. (environment.ec.europa.eu) ### Why is this especially awkward for Spanish manufacturers? Because weak exports and weak investment make compliance harder to absorb. If orders are slowing and capital spending is already thin, new packaging work stops being a routine upgrade and starts feeling like another cost center. “Export-ready” packaging — multilingual labels, traceable documentation, recyclab(environment.ec.europa.eu)ent. That last step is an inference, but it follows directly from the export slump and the scope of the EU rule. (elmundo.es) ### Bottom line Spain is still growing, but the quality of that growth just got shakier. Goods exporters are selling less, businesses are investing less, and the EU is about to make packaging compliance stricter. For firms that live on foreign sales, that is a bad combination — weaker momentum now, and less room for mistakes by August 2026. (elmundo.es)