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 desires, based on clean technologies and decarbonization, and on attracting new investment linked to energy transition or that uses energy transition as a lever.»
In this regard, he has advanced that «out of the more than 9,000 million euros of investment 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, the chemical industry, the recovery of electronic waste, or the production of green methanol.
Jorge Paradela has emphasized the contribution of industrial activity to the province of Huelva, where one out of every four euros generated in the economy of 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 very promising and stimulating moment that the industrial sector in Huelva is experiencing.»
The Minister highlighted this during the presentation of the 2024 Report of the Association of Chemical, Basic, and Energy Industries (AIQBE) in Huelva, specifying that 24% of the Gross Value Added in Huelva comes from the industry. An activity that is showing positive rates in the whole of Andalusia, as evidenced by today’s data on industrial production. An indicator that grew by 6.3% in May 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, compared to the national decline of 0.5%. An indicator that confirms the «consolidation» of industrial progress.
Family photo from the presentation of the annual report of AIQBE in Huelva.
Together with the Mayor, Pilar Miranda; the President of AIQBE, Juan del Olmo; the delegate of his Department in the province, Lucía Núñez, and the Government sub-delegate, the Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines of the Junta has emphasized that «the most interesting and directly connected to what is happening in Huelva, is the transformation of the industry.»
«Huelva is not just another province, it is the industrial province of Andalusia», the Minister added, emphasizing 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 conducive environment for investment, based on administrative agility, on proactivity in listening to companies, something to which we dedicate a lot of time, and also on specific impetus instruments» 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 throughout this year in support instruments to incentivize industrial activity in the community. Among them, he highlighted for their innovative nature 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.
