The Valencian Community has the human and material resources to become one of the main regions in southern Europe in the coming years. It’s not an exaggeration. Because several factors work in its favor. Its strategic geographical position makes it an anchor of the Mediterranean axis, with one port, València, which is already the main gateway for goods into Spain and another, Sagunt, which will be a logistics node for one of the main industrial areas. of Spain, perhaps the largest in size. Nuclei that will be connected to the Mediterranean corridor, the peripheral railway infrastructure that questions the radial model and that should link Algeciras with Ukraine in the future, crossing the center of Europe. But there is more, much more.
The export vocation, which began in the mid-19th century with oranges, is now carried out, in addition to farm products, by sectors such as ceramics, footwear and furniture. It is in this territory where the largest industrial hub for automobile electrification in Spain can be generated, with the PowerCO battery factory, a subsidiary of Seat-Volkswagen, the transformation of the Ford plant in Almussafes (in this case with some concerns business) and the strength of companies like Stadler.
The data confirms this region as a tourist power in full growth and this is where two of the most important transport companies in Europe are located: Air Nostrum and Baleària. We can add more reasons, but there is one that must be highlighted: the competence of its entrepreneurs. The data from the Valencian Association of Businessmen (AVE), chaired by the shipping company Vicente Boluda, supports this. The latest barometer of this association points to Valencia as one of the most entrepreneurial autonomies.
With a new generation of entrepreneurs, younger, more prepared, with many more women, many of them betting on innovation, in what is now known as “startup territory” they coexist with that generation that has built driving companies with a turnover exceeding one billion in turnover: Mercadona, BP, Consum, Tempe, Altadia, Torrecid, Porcelanosa, Pamesa, Importaco, Guzmán or Hinojosa, as examples, and there are many more.
But these capabilities are not without threats. The most important is the slow development of infrastructure to enhance the competitiveness of companies. From the Mediterranean corridor (with that plug of the through tunnel in Valencia), the connection with the Cantabrian axis through Zaragoza, the expansion of the airports demanded by the employers’ associations or the improvement of the surrounding areas to guarantee the mobility of Valencians.
Other threats are the need for a new regional financing model that stops representing the Valencian Community as the worst financed in the State, with what this means for regional policies towards the productive sectors, or the lack of Government investments in this territory, mainly Alicante, as claimed by the Valencian executive, chaired by Carlos Mazón. And, as the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie) diagnoses, the weakness of the Valencian economy results from the low productivity of a majority of the productive fabric and the shortcomings of the public sector to support it due to lack of resources.
That is why an investment effort in ICT capital, intangible and human, is called for, because one more threat is taking shape: the flight of talent attracted by that vacuuming power of material and human resources that is Madrid. In other words, the Valencian Community has excellent training centers in its public and private universities, but many of its graduates choose to emigrate in search of higher-skilled work.
The Valencian Community is 10%, more or less, of almost everything. It is the fourth Spanish region, with a population of 5.2 million people (close to 10% of the population), with a weight on the national GDP of 9.3% (according to CaixaBank data); and a GDP per capita of 24,473 euros. The region stands out for a greater relative weight of the manufacturing industry (15.8% compared to 12.8% of the Spanish average), construction (6.1% compared to 5.6%) and commerce, transport, hospitality and leisure (27.5% compared to 26.2%). On the other hand, the weight is lower in Public Administration (18.3% compared to 19.2%) and services linked to industry (26.5% compared to 29.2%).
In the export/import sector there are revealing data: such as the six million containers that circulated through the port of Valencia in 2023, or the 38,014 million euros in exports from Valencian companies, or the 10,491,985 million international tourists who visited the region in the last financial year. All data that confirm enormous dynamism that could be even greater if the economic and infrastructure resources were available.
Salvador Navarro, president of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV), is right when in the interview that we publish in these pages he points out that the Valencian Community has not yet been able to make itself heard in the centers of power of the State, as it has. other economies such as the Basque or Catalan ones have achieved. Navarro adds that an associated historical problem is the character of the Valencian businessman with two great characteristics: his creativity for business and his marked individualism.
They are realities that seem like time is changing. Let’s say for example that it is the Valencian businessmen who are putting pressure, more than their political representatives, for the completion of pending infrastructure, for the State to go beyond its radial vision and for the needs of sectors that, such as ceramics, to be met. They are in the full phase of transformation.
It is these same businessmen, joined by others such as José Vicente Morata, president of the Valencia Chamber, who, together with the unions, have been able to establish “social peace” through dialogue that has allowed there to be hardly any labor conflict in the Valencian Community, an important factor for stability.
This, together with training excellence, were factors that determined the choice of Sagunt by Seat-Volkswagen. With this, the Valencian Community is managing to attract industrial investments that not long ago seemed impossible; an excellent palliative for the decline of a sector that began its decline in the eighties with the closure of the Altos Hornos and that is now beginning to be key in the Spanish economy of the future.
This same dialogue that social agents celebrate is being key in the new construction of the productive model of the future. The success of Ford Valencia cannot be understood without the efforts of its staff, who continue working because the future of the Valencian plant, the firm’s electric platform in Europe and to which a “multi-energy” vehicle will soon be assigned, is counting with as many people as possible. Because the Valencian productive fabric depends on its thriving companies and also on its workers, a group made up of 2,297,900 people, according to the latest EPA.
However, the latest variations in the labor market have raised the unemployment rate to 13.44%, 1.15 points above the national average, placing the Valencian Community as the sixth region with the highest unemployment rate. The business analysis emphasizes that the majority of jobs lost in the last quarter come from the services sector of Alicante and the construction and industry sectors of Valencia.
A fundamental issue remains to be addressed, financial coverage. Until not long ago, the Valencian Community had its own financial system that led the market in Spain, with Bancaixa and the CAM, plus the Bank of Valencia. Everything collapsed with the explosion of the brick. But over time, entities such as CaixaBank or Banc de Sabadell, whose headquarters are located in this autonomy, have been able to respond to the productive sectors. Also, the public administration, through the Valencian Institute of Finance, has been able to establish credit formulas for those who risk the most.
There are many pending issues, which are addressed in this special dedicated to the Valencian Community. Such as the reinforcement of the audiovisual industry, which may have a reference in Alicante with the City of Light, or the deseasonalization of tourism, with the promotion of cultural tourism; as well as greater support for the technological ecosystem, which is committed to continuing to open horizons from this always brave and entrepreneurial region.
