Spanish Business Make Gains in U.S.

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Dec 11, 2012) - ICEX (the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade) reports that Spain's trade balance with the U.S. is nearly equal; through August of this year, Spanish exports to the U.S. were 90 percent of imports and on track to exceed last year's figures. In 2011, Spanish exports were just 75 percent of imports. One industry that continues to make steady gains in the U.S. is the Spanish wine industry.

In 2011, total Spanish wine exports registered record-breaking gains in terms of volume and value. According to the Spanish Wine Market Supervisory Board (OeMv), volume of total shipments increased 26.3 percent to 2.2 billion liters, while value rose 16.7 percent to EUR 2.2 billion. Exports to the U.S. alone rose 28.2 percent. In the first half of 2012, an OeMv-produced report shows that exports to the U.S. rose again: 15.8 percent as measured by volume and 20.9 percent by value.

"Through our concerted efforts to bring wider appreciation and knowledge of Spanish wines to the U.S., this category has enjoyed growing popularity," said Katrin Naelapaa, director of Wines from Spain. "Fortunately, we haven't been alone in our efforts. Several Spanish companies are making great strides in developing their businesses on a global scale, including here in the U.S."

In 2011, Spain ranked as the 13^th largest economy in the world and as the 10^th largest investor in foreign countries (source: The CIA World Factbook), and the U.S. has been just one of its targeted markets. Numerous innovative and leading Spanish companies are active across a range of industries in the U.S. From infrastructure, energy and biotechnology to finance and business schools to retail and gastronomy, Spain's economic diversity is becoming more apparent.

Individual companies that are making an impact on -- and in some cases beneath -- American soil include:

• Ferrovial, Spain's largest investor in U.S. transport infrastructure, has five toll-road concessions in operation or under construction, including Chicago Skyway, Indiana Toll Road and State Highway 130, North Tarrant Express and Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway in Texas.
  
  
• Dragados, owned by parent company Actividades de Construcción y Servicios (ACS), is building the connection between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Station.
  
  
• Gamesa Energy USA, a subsidiary of Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica S.A., is based in Philadelphia, Penn., and develops wind farms and manufactures wind turbines.
  
  
• Abengoa is developing one of the largest solar power plants in the world at Solana, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, as well as a gross parabolic trough plant 100 miles northeast of L.A. with the Mojave Solar Project.
  
  
• Iberdrola Renewables has 40 renewable energy projects underway across the U.S., including wind, biomass and solar.
  
  
• Grifols S.A. develops blood plasma products, including transfusion, blood banking, protein therapeutics and laboratory analysis. It maintains a facility in Los Angeles, as well as a site in Clayton, N.C.
  
  
• Banco Santander, one of the top 20 banks in the world, maintains a presence in the U.S. through Sovereign Bank in the Northeast, one of its wholly owned subsidiaries.
  
  
• BBVA is the parent company of BBVA Compass, which has operations throughout the Sunbelt and ranks among the top 20 largest U.S. commercial banks in terms of deposit market share.
  
  
• IESE Business School at University of Navarra opened a New York campus, providing students with increased opportunities to understand the global business environment.
  
  
• Esade has a well-established partnership with Georgetown University and is another example of how higher education programs in Spain have branched out.
  
  
• Zara is one of Spain's -- and the world's -- leaders in fast fashion. With more than 40 stores in the U.S. and more than 1,600 worldwide, Zara takes just weeks to get products from development and into stores.
  
  
• Ebro Foods is a Spanish food processing company that is a world leader in producing rice and pasta; it has 11 locations in Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
  
  

About Wines from Spain
Wines from Spain is a promotional division of the Trade Commission of Spain based in New York. For more than 25 years, Wines from Spain has been committed to increasing the awareness of Spanish wines throughout the United States through education, informational materials, special events and promotions. For further information on specific wine regions and producers, please contact: Wines from Spain, Trade Commission of Spain, 405 Lexington Avenue, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10174-0331 or visit www.WinesfromSpainUSA.com.