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The agrifood sector is facing 2026 from a stronger position than that of recent years, supported by the gradual normalisation of agricultural activity, the moderation of food inflation and the resilience of the food industry. However, the environment remains challenging. Despite improved water conditions, extreme weather events are on the rise, increasing uncertainty around harvests. At the same time, the war in Iran has introduced new pressures on energy and fertiliser costs, in an international context still marked by trade tensions and sluggish exports.

The Spanish economy has kicked off 2025 with widespread growth, albeit slightly more moderate than that of the previous year. Despite the global challenges, such as the protectionist shift in the US, half of its sectors are showing signs of expansion, most notably the chemicals and pharmaceutical industry. This buoyancy across the various sectors, coupled with the country’s competitive advantage in renewable energies, bolsters the resilience of the economy amid an uncertain international environment.

The initiation of the ECB’s monetary policy normalisation process has led to an acceleration in house prices, especially in markets with a significant mismatch between insufficient supply and dynamic demand. The economies in which real prices have increased the most in the last year and a half, and where the residential markets are showing signs of more significant overvaluation, include Portugal, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands and Estonia. In contrast, the markets of large economies such as Germany, Sweden, France and Luxembourg remain overvalued, but have corrected the strong price growth they experienced in the decades leading up to the pandemic, reducing signs of overheating.

The situation of the tourism sector improved considerably during the summer months, outperforming the projections of many of the companies in the industry. The vaccination of a large part of the population, the implementation of the EU Digital COVID Certificate, the great pent-up demand for tourism services and the easing of restrictions in the hospitality industry have been the compendium of factors that have supported a significant and necessary recovery for the sector. 

Spain’s tourism sector is in an advantageous position. However, the macroeconomic scenario poses a risk for the trend in tourism activity over the coming quarters.

After the sharp downturn in the sector caused by the pandemic, the recovery of international tourism in Spain can now be considered almost complete. Among the world’s top 10 tourism destinations, Spain was the second to exceed its number of pre-COVID international tourists, behind only Türkiye.

Spain’s tourism sector enjoyed rapid growth in 2024 and has support factors to continue expanding in 2025. These include the economic growth of the main source countries and the sector’s price competitiveness, as it continues to seek a reduction in its seasonality to avoid congestion during the peak season and increase the utilisation of the installed capacity. The good performance of the tourism sector will be key in ensuring that catering continues to enjoy its current level of buoyancy.

The Spanish tourism sector has entered a new phase of more moderate growth following years of strong expansion in the wake of the post-pandemic recovery. In this context, the restaurant industry continues its strong performance in 2025, with solid growth in spending, while US tourism shows signs of slowing down due to economic uncertainty.

COVID-19 is having a huge impact on economic activity in Spain and, in particular, on the tourism industry. At CaixaBank Research we expect GDP to fall by between 13% and 15% in 2020, not returning to its pre-crisis levels until 2023. The outlook in 2020 is even grimmer for Spain's tourism industry as it is one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.

Construction costs in Spain have increased considerably since January 2021, a rise that was prompted by the strong recovery in global demand as the economy reopened after the pandemic but was further aggravated by the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In recent months, however, the price of industrial metals on international markets has fallen sharply and the futures markets point to prices stabilising to some extent. Given this situation, the cost of construction materials in Spain is expected to moderate in 2023.

The supply of housing continues to be insufficient to absorb demand, which continues to grow strongly due to the formation of new households. This housing deficit and the pressure it exerts on prices underscores the need to accelerate the construction of affordable housing.

The Spanish tourism sector is showing great signs of resilience: demand is keeping up with the inflationary environment and growth has surprised very positively in the first half of the year. The second half will be very marked by the summer months, for which we especially expect new positive results. In late 2023 and early 2024, we expect the tone of the sector to change slightly and become less buoyant.

One of the determining factors of the economic scenario is the impact of the ECB’s interest rate hikes on the consumption and investment decisions taken by economic agents. In this article, we examine the financial position of the different branches of Spain’s manufacturing industry in an attempt to determine to what extent they’re exposed to this tightening of financial conditions.