Why does a delivery from Madrid count as an import?

Because the islands belong to the customs territory of the Union but not, under Article 6 of the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC, to the VAT territory. Every consignment is declared on a DUA, and the statistics are built from those declarations.

Do I pay customs duty on a parcel from mainland Spain?

No, Union goods are duty-free. What is due is IGIC on import, in some cases the AIEM, and the carrier's clearance fees.

What does a cover ratio of 21.8 percent mean?

Exports divided by imports, here 2.44 divided by 11.22 billion euros. A year earlier it was 19.3 percent.

Why did imports fall by 16.1 percent?

Not because energy got cheaper: weight fell 43.0 percent, more steeply than value. The decline sits almost entirely in mineral oils, whose imported volume collapsed by 73.3 percent.

What do the Canaries export apart from fuel?

Fruit worth 162.9 million euros, in practice the banana, tobacco at 150.6 million and fish at 70.5 million. A further 22.9 percent sits in a residual heading with no goods description.

CANARY ISLANDS · ECONOMY

22 cents exported per euro imported: three quarters of Canary imports come from mainland Spain

Between January and July 2026 the Canary Islands imported goods worth 11.22 billion euros and exported 2.44 billion: 21.8 cents of exports for every euro imported. Most of that "foreign trade" is not foreign at all — 74.6 percent of July's imports came from the rest of Spain, because for tax purposes the archipelago lies outside the EU VAT territory.

25 September 2026 · By Martin Kosinski · 5 min. · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

The port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (illustrative)

Photo: Ivanhercaz, CC BY-SA 4.0 (illustrative image).

The figures and where they come from

Imports January to July 2026: 11.22 billion euros, −16.1 % on the same period last year. Provisional figures.
Exports: 2.44 billion euros, −5.6 %. Deficit 8.78 billion, cover ratio 21.8 %. Release by the Instituto Canario de Estadística (ISTAC) of 24 September 2026.
Volume, not value: import weight fell from 6.76 to 3.85 million tonnes, down 43.0 %. Our own calculation from the ISTAC monthly series.
Imports in July 2026: 74.6 % from the rest of Spain, 13.9 % from the rest of the EU-27; exports 25.7 % and 29.8 %.
Exports by tariff chapter, January to July: mineral oils 614.2 million euros (25.2 %), fruit 162.9 million (6.7 %), tobacco 150.6 million (6.2 %), fish 70.5 million (2.9 %).

The arithmetic behind the 22 cents

The cover ratio is the plainest measure in trade statistics: exports divided by imports, here 21.8 percent. The gap of 8.78 billion euros over seven months works out at around 41 million euros a day — paid for out of what the goods statistics do not capture: tourism, services, transfers. A year earlier the ratio was 19.3 percent. It has risen not because more went out, but because less came in.

Why a delivery from Madrid counts as an import

This is regularly got wrong. The Canaries are part of the customs territory of the Union — that is the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013. Article 6(1)(b) of the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC lists them expressly as a territory that forms part of that customs territory but to which the directive does not apply; the excise directive (EU) 2020/262 leaves them out as well. Inside the customs union, outside the VAT territory — the basis is Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the outermost regions. Instead of VAT the islands charge IGIC under Ley 20/1991, and on certain goods the AIEM, which Council Decision (EU) 2020/1792 permits until 31 December 2027. Because a tax border runs here, every consignment from the mainland needs a customs declaration, the DUA — and the trade statistics are built from those declarations. That is why goods from Valencia are "foreign trade" even though they never leave Spain.

The 16.1 percent drop is not a price story

Minus 16.1 percent in a year is a lot, and the obvious explanation would be cheap fuel. It does not hold. Volume fell far more sharply than value: minus 43.0 percent by weight, which pushed the value per imported tonne up from 1,979 to 2,912 euros. Almost all of it sits in one chapter. Mineral oils fell in value from 2,246.0 to 734.1 million euros (−67.3 %) and in volume from 3.61 to 0.97 million tonnes (−73.3 %). That alone accounts for 1.51 of the 2.15 billion euro decline — and the price per tonne of fuel rose over the same period from 621 to 760 euros. The producer price index shows no cheap energy either: the ISTAC energy index (base 2021) stood at 78.9 in February 2026 and at 154.8 in August. So this is a collapse in quantity, not a price effect, and it begins in the autumn: 337.8 million euros of mineral oil imports in September 2025, only 114.0 million in October 2025. The release offers no explanation for it.

What the islands actually export

The largest export item is fuel the islands imported first: mineral oils worth 614.2 million euros, 25.2 percent of all exports and 47 percent of export tonnage. From January to July, 966,066 tonnes of that chapter came in and 986,604 tonnes went back out. It cannot be local production: the refinery in Santa Cruz de Tenerife was shut down in 2015. Next come 559.4 million euros (22.9 %) under "special combined nomenclature codes", a residual heading with no goods description — a year earlier it was 4.3 percent. Only behind that sits what the islands actually grow and make: fruit 162.9 million euros (6.7 %; in 2025 bananas were 164.5 of the 180.0 million in that chapter), tobacco 150.6 million (6.2 %), fish 70.5 million (2.9 %). Together 15.8 percent — less than the re-exported fuel on its own.

What this means for ordering from the mainland

That same tax border shows up in the parcel tracking window. Because the islands are inside the customs union, Union goods from the mainland carry no customs duty. An import declaration is still needed, and IGIC falls due on import: standard rate 7 percent, up to 15 percent on certain goods. On consignments up to 150 euros an IGIC exemption still applies on the latest public position; the Canary government asked the state at the end of June 2026 to abolish it for e-commerce (Canarias7, 27 June 2026). The EU duty of 3 euros per category of goods, in force since 1 July 2026, applies only to consignments from outside the EU — duty and IGIC are two different things, and we have explained them separately.

Anyone ordering from the mainland should settle three things first. Does the retailer ship to the Canaries at all, and is the price quoted with or without VAT? An import invoice must not carry Spanish IVA; IGIC is charged on arrival instead. Who files the import declaration, and what does it cost? The carrier's DUA and storage fees are often higher than the tax itself. And keep the invoice, the proof of payment and a description of the goods to hand — missing paperwork is the commonest reason a consignment sits for weeks.

All the trade figures are expressly marked provisional by ISTAC and may be revised. "Foreign trade" here also does not mean "abroad": deliveries from the rest of Spain make up the bulk of imports and are counted in, because what is crossed is a tax border, not a national one. And the shares quoted in the ISTAC release (74.6 %, 29.2 %, 28.3 %) refer to the month of July 2026 alone; cumulatively from January to July the share from the rest of Spain is 74.3 percent.

FAQ

Why does a delivery from Madrid count as an import?: Because the islands belong to the customs territory of the Union but not, under Article 6 of the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC, to the VAT territory. Every consignment is declared on a DUA, and the statistics are built from those declarations.
Do I pay customs duty on a parcel from mainland Spain?: No, Union goods are duty-free. What is due is IGIC on import, in some cases the AIEM, and the carrier's clearance fees.
What does a cover ratio of 21.8 percent mean?: Exports divided by imports, here 2.44 divided by 11.22 billion euros. A year earlier it was 19.3 percent.
Why did imports fall by 16.1 percent?: Not because energy got cheaper: weight fell 43.0 percent, more steeply than value. The decline sits almost entirely in mineral oils, whose imported volume collapsed by 73.3 percent.
What do the Canaries export apart from fuel?: Fruit worth 162.9 million euros, in practice the banana, tobacco at 150.6 million and fish at 70.5 million. A further 22.9 percent sits in a residual heading with no goods description.

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