Alicante has long been viewed as one of the more outward-facing provinces, a place with a larger export footprint than many peers. Yet the reality behind Alicante’s foreign trade shows a fragmented landscape: a handful of large firms and a sea of small companies that struggle to scale.
Last year, total shipments from the province to international markets topped 7.0 billion euros, with 52.4% concentrated in just one hundred firms. The pandemic amplified a trend: the share of the top 100 exporters since 2019 rose from 49.9% as world trade tensions intensified and supply chains stretched thin.
Data from the Icex Spanish Exporters Profile confirms the small average size of many Alicante exporters. Nationally, the average exporter invoices around 2.053 million euros, while Alicante’s average international shipment hovers just above 706 thousand euros.
“It’s a cultural issue—an extremely fragmented business structure,” notes Pablo Gómez, CEO of Oftex, a consulting firm focused on helping companies internationalize. He emphasizes that scale is often a key factor in competitiveness and that family dynamics can split opportunities when siblings take over a business.
The data show that only 1.8% of all Spanish exports come from Alicante.
Despite strong export activities in sectors like footwear and agri-food, Alicante accounted for a modest 1.8% of Spain’s exports last year, down from roughly 3% in the early 2000s. The province slipped from ninth in the ranking of Spanish provinces by outbound sales in 2001 to 18th in the following two years, a position it has held for the last two years, according to Icex.
In absolute terms, the total number of exporters recorded by ICEX reached 10,006, though this total includes anyone with a customs operation. The truly meaningful figure is the regular exporters—those who maintain an ongoing presence in foreign markets for four consecutive years, as defined by ICEX.
Last year the number of regular Alicante exporters began to recover after the 2020–2021 pandemic downturn, rising to 2,622, up 2% from the previous year though still below the 2,735 seen in 2019.
Two of the cranes in the port of Alicante. PILAR CORTÉS
Even with the drop in regular exporters, total sales continued to rise as those firms that held their ground managed to expand their quotas. Concentration remains a defining factor in the province’s export profile today.
Looking at product distribution, the province hosts a diversified export base. It has more than a thousand footwear exporters and a similar number in machinery and mechanical equipment, though not all of these are actual manufacturers of those goods. There are over 800 plastic product exporters and about five hundred in the food industry, among the most relevant segments.
Recovery in the footwear sector helped push exports to historically high levels, reaching 7.068 billion euros.
Regarding prospects for 2023, Gómez sees reasons for continued growth in the foreign sector, supported by an improving overall situation. Tensions from the war in Ukraine have eased, supply chains and transport costs have improved, and this creates a more favorable environment. He cautions, however, that consumption slowdown could pose a risk, preventing a repeat of very strong years.
New routes to the Russian market
The sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine severely affected many Alicante exporters with strong exposure to that market. Icex data show the number of Alicante exporters working with Russia halved from 296 to 149. Oftex’s Gómez notes those for whom Russia represents a larger share of activity often redirected shipments through countries like Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan to circumvent Brussels’ restrictions. Initially, such moves caused collection delays of up to 60 days, but processes have since improved and payments began arriving in roughly 15 days.