Industrial and Construction Sectors in Catalonia
Construction and Industrial Activities in Catalonia
The industrial sector has played an important role in the modernization of Catalonia and continues to have a role in the actual economy above the European and state average. Currently, industries are located in industrial estates, which are specialized areas where businesses and industries are located as a planning permission. The location allows them to optimize infrastructure and common services and configure spaces adapting to the specific requirements of this economic sector.
Industrial estates are located at certain points of the territory seeking a series of advantages: space available at good rates, good communication and access to distribution networks, proximity to service centers, etc. The typology of industrial estates can be classified as: polygons specialized in processing raw materials, semi-industrial polygons, polygons dedicated to logistics, etc.
This diversity makes it so that increasingly, we tend to speak of economic sectors of activity to refer to industrial areas. Some major trends experienced in recent years in the Catalan industrial sector are:
- The opening of the European and global market, with satisfactory results in internationalization.
- Selective offshoring of some industries in peripheral countries, but not general.
- Positive evolution in all sectors, led by metallurgy, machinery, chemical, and agribusiness.
- The increasing presence of multinationals, which account for nearly 50% of Catalan production and approximately 60% of Catalan exports.
Some of the main features of the industry now are:
- Its diversified production structure, with two major sub-sectors: transport materials, accompanied by chemical and food, machinery, and metallurgy.
- The domain-processing industry.
- Small and medium-sized companies: over 80% of industrial enterprises in Catalonia are small or medium businesses.
- Low productivity, related to low investment in research and development and worker training.
- Industrial concentration in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, which accounts for 70% of companies.
Major Industrial Areas
The location of industrial activity in Catalonia has a close relationship with three urban systems: the major population centers, major roads, and river transport axes. Industries look to monetize their accessible location environments, close to major logistics centers and special services that facilitate the development of their activities. The existence of prior entrepreneurship is also important for industrial development.
The various industrial subsectors tend to concentrate in certain areas and produce a regional specialization, of which we mention the following in Catalonia:
- The metropolitan counties, where there is a greater number and more diversification of industrial activities (metallurgy, metal products, transport equipment, plastics, pharmaceuticals, electrical, electronic, and communication technologies).
- The AP7 corridor tends to set up an industrial succession from Camp de Tarragona to Alt Empordà. It accommodates the industrial machinery subsector, chemicals, plastics, electrical, etc.
- The axis of the Llobregat and Ter rivers, especially at the edges of the main towns. The textile sector still has a significant presence in these areas.
- The Baix Camp and Tarragonès, forming the second industrial area of Catalonia. The chemical industry is characterized by a high degree of concentration.
- The Segrià and Lleida urban area, which is the main industrial area within Catalonia, specializing in food industry activities and the manufacturing of agricultural machinery.
Local Production Systems
To better understand the location of industrial activities, it is good to look at what is known as local production systems. It is a concentration of companies and institutions interrelated for a given product in a given geographical area.
Economists realized that companies belonging to a particular sector tend to concentrate in a specific geographical area and create bonds of cooperation between them, as well as competition, in what is known as a local production system or cluster.
The Construction Sector
Since the 1950s, when economic development began in Catalonia and Spain, the construction sector has had much prominence.
Between 1998 and 2007, it experienced a period of tremendous growth, and in 2007, a great recession stage began.