Which sectors and autonomous communities have the highest factoring and confirming activity?
In 2021, factoring and confirming activity recorded the most positive figure of the last five years in Spain, with an increase in the volume of assignments close to double digits, to almost 200,000 million euros. But how was the volume of business distributed? The statistics published annually by the Spanish Factoring Association (AEF) provide useful information on the evolution of factoring and confirming in terms of outstanding and average investment, by sector, geographical area and other equally important aspects in order to obtain a panoramic picture of the use of these working capital financing tools in our country.
Factoring and confirming by sector and geography
According to AEF data, the manufacturing industry and commerce sectors account for practically half of all factoring and confirming activity in Spain, with shares of 28.44% and 22.4%, respectively. Other sectors with significant representation include transportation (8.05%), construction (7.21%) and energy (6.55%), although a significant part of the activity (21.7%) is included under the label "other services".
As regards the willingness of Spanish companies to resort to these forms of financing, although the AEF data show that factoring and confirming operations are carried out throughout Spain, including Ceuta and Melilla, however, by region it is the Community of Madrid which leads the activity, with a share of 41.99%. It is followed by Catalonia, the Basque Country and Andalusia, with shares of 16.37%, 10.08%, 6.84% and 5.82%. According to the Association, these figures are similar to those recorded in the previous year.
Representation of factoring and confirming and comparison with Spanish GDP figure
The credits managed by the Association's members reached the figure of 1,202,994 million euros at the close of 2021 (the credits managed are the result of the sum of the volume of factoring operations and the payment orders received from confirming). According to the AEF, this amount is equivalent to 23.78% of Spain's GDP.
When breaking down only the weight of factoring activity over GDP, the AEF's reading could not be more positive, as it concludes that factoring is growing in Spain at an average speed much faster than GDP, having gained 5.4 points of weight in the last decade. With 199,364 million euros.
