International trade is the exchange of goods and services between one country and another. In most countries such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP).
International trade has been present throughout much of history, starting from the Mediaeval Silk Road or the Transoceanic Trade between Europe and America during the Modern Era, after Europeans arrived to America.
Different criteria are used to classify industry. Here are the most widely used classifications.
High-technology (or high-tech) industry refers to industries whose processing techniques usually involve micro-electronics.
Characteristics:
Also called basic industry. It transforms raw materials into semi-finished products that are then used in other industries, and includes mining and energy production.
Characteristics:
In 2020, the Basque Country maintained trade relations with the majority of countries worldwide (three-quarters of them). In most cases, exports were worth more than imports. However, the negative trade balance with China (where the Basque Country buys more than it sells) continued to grow.
The pandemic severely affected the global economy. Exports dropped significantly, with a 14.5% decline in the Basque Country. However, China and a few other countries managed to increase their exports during this period.
Exports accounted for 50% of the Basque Country’s GDP in 2020. About 73% of Basque exports were
directed to Eurozone countries, mainly France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belgium.
In the Southern Basque Country, the most exported products included:
There is limited data on exports from the Northern Basque Country, but the most exported products are food and goods related to the aeronautics sector.
A significant portion of Basque exports goes to Spain, but this dependency has decreased in recent decades. Basque companies have made efforts to expand internationally over the past ten years, gaining new customers in the USA, Mexico, China, Turkey, Brazil, and South Africa.
In general, the Basque Country exports more in value than it imports, leading to a positive trade balance. However, the negative trade balance with Spain, China, and Ireland is particularly high, amounting to €1.06 billion and €495 million, respectively.
The Basque Country imports heavily from China, purchasing industrial machinery, electronic devices, telecommunications equipment, chemicals, and plastics. This creates competitive challenges for Basque businesses.
Additionally, due to energy-related imports, the Basque Country has a negative trade balance with several countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, and Libya.
The future of the economy remains uncertain, and Europe must find its place in the global market. Meanwhile, Asia is becoming increasingly influential in the world economy. The Basque Country will need to adapt to these changes in the coming years.
In the Basque Country this activity is divided into the following sub-sectors: shallow-water, deep sea-fresh water, cod fishing boats, tuna fishing-freezer boats and trawler-freezers. In the Basque Autonomous Community, the number of boats dedicated to these sub-sectors has suffered a clear drop after 1990, except in the tuna fishing-freezer boats, which has stayed the same. The most important deep-sea fishing ports are Ondarroa (Biscay) and Pasaia (Gipuzkoa). The shallow-water fishing, on the other hand, is an activity which is present in all the ports of Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Lapurdi.
The primary sector takes natural resources directly from the land or sea and satisfies many of our most basic needs.
The good of the primary sector can be used for nutrition, for food, or can be raw materials to make other products , for example wool to make pullovers, or coal for energy .
The sector involves many different activities such as agriculture and livestock farming, fishing, mining and forestry.
Regions sustained by commercial farming specialise in certain crops.
Most European farms are medium-sized family enterprises that require large capital investments. High standards of living mean that farms employ temporary labour.
In the part of Europe with an oceanic climate, meadow lands are exploited under intensive cattle raising. Cattle raising is found in all landscapes, especially when in the past the cattle was essential for fertilising fields. They are privately owned lands, and exploitation may be direct or indirect. In warmer regions, we may find vineyards and orchards.
In other regions there is no change and traditional farming is maintained: olives, wheat and vineyards.
In urban areas, vegetables and fruits for town markets are the main products and usually are multi-crop farmings.
In some areas such as United Stated or some regions of Russia, this commercial farming is done in large areas. These farms are family businesses that do not require a large workforce but are managed as companies.
Crops are produced for the market, not for home consumption.
In North America farming is extensive with complete mechanisation. It covers wide areas and cultivates crops appropriate to each region: what, maize, cotton, tobacco. Land productivity is not high but production is cheap, because they use little labour and a lot of machinery.
Property is privately owned and cultivation is direct. Agriculture uses all the mechanical, technical and scientific advances required by the green revolution. They achieve great profitability although they make the biggest money investments in the world to attain it.
Single-crop cultivation predominates.
The Russians regions show a similar landscape. They are large exploitations with a lot of mechanisation. Single-crop farming is specialised region by region.
It transforms semi-finished products done by heavy industry into finished goods and products for use in other industries.
Characteristics:
There are different reasons for locating industry in a specific place, and these vary depending on the type of business and their characteristics.
Raw materials: If an industry needs many raw material to be near them can be very important especially to some basic industries that use lots of mineral.
