The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Andalusian Government, Jorge Paradela, has highlighted that Huelva, where the largest industrial park in Spain is located, «is leading the transformation towards the type of industry that Europe wants, based on clean technologies and decarbonization, and on attracting new investment linked to energy transition or using energy transition as a lever.»
In this regard, he has advanced that «out of the more than 9,000 million euros of investment that have been captured in Andalusia through projects linked to the green industry, low in emissions, 44%, almost 4,000 million euros, are located in Huelva«. An investment that translates into 97 projects «ambitious and extremely promising» related to decarbonized industry, green molecules, chemical industry, electronic waste recovery, or green methanol production.
Jorge Paradela has highlighted the contribution of industrial activity to the province of Huelva, where one out of every four euros generated by the economy in Huelva comes from this sector, and that, in just the last year, employment linked to the industry has increased by 6%, a rate that «doubles the national average and speaks to the promising and stimulating moment that the industry in Huelva is experiencing.»
The Minister made these remarks at the presentation of the 2024 Report of the Association of Chemical, Basic and Energy Industries (AIQBE) in Huelva, where he specified that 24% of the Gross Value Added in Huelva comes from the industry. An activity that is registering positive rates in the whole of Andalusia, as shown by the data released today on industrial production. An indicator that in May grew by 6.3% in the Andalusian community compared to the national decline of 0.8%, and that in cumulative terms from January to May, it advanced by 4.6% in Andalusia, against the national decrease of 0.5%. An indicator that confirms the «consolidation» of the industry’s progress.
Family photo of the annual AIQBE report presentation in Huelva.
Alongside the Mayor, Pilar Miranda; the president of AIQBE, Juan del Olmo; the delegate of the Ministry in the province, Lucía Núñez, and the Government Subdelegate, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Junta emphasized that «the most interesting aspect that directly connects with what is happening in Huelva is the transformation of the industry.»
«Huelva is not just another province, it is the industrial province of Andalusia», added the Minister, who stressed that it is the only province in Andalusia where the percentage of GDP linked to the industry exceeds 20%.
For Jorge Paradela, «our obligation as the Government of Andalusia is to continue creating a favorable environment for investment, based on administrative agility, on proactivity when listening to companies, something to which we dedicate a lot of time, and also on specific tools for driving» to support these investment projects and improve the competitiveness and energy efficiency of the industrial sector.
In this sense, he recalled that his department will make available to the Andalusian productive fabric more than 700 million Euros this year in support instruments to incentivize industrial activity in the community. Among them, he highlighted the Integrated Incentives, INCEA, which combine industrial competitiveness and energy improvement, with 250 million Euros in aid in key sectors for the industrial fabric of Huelva such as green hydrogen, mining, or production spaces.