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Gas supply dominance
Betty Henderson
AFTER a year of diplomatic tensions between Spain and Algeria over the issue of independence for Western Sahara, Algeria is back to being Spain’s primary supplier of natural gas.
According to figures released on Thursday, March 9, Algeria topped the list of Spanish gas suppliers for the first two months of 2023. The North African nation accounted for 24.2 per cent of Spain’s gas imports in the first two months of 2023 with its Medgaz pipeline.
Algeria surpassed the United States who supplied 21.7 per cent of Spain’s natural gas in January and February, down from around 40 per cent in parts of 2022.
Spain continues to receive significant amounts of gas from Russia, which accounted for almost 20 per cent of Spain’s demand cent in the same period last year.
This shift is largely down to climatic factors, Spain experienced a milder winter than expected, resulting in lower demand for gas.
Digital reading
THE Spanish digital book market is growing at an unprecedented rate globally and the latest report released on Thursday, March 9 revealed that Spain is leading the charge. According to the Annual Digital Book Report by Libranda, Spain sells the most digital books out of the Spanishspeaking world.
Spain is responsible for a staggering 66.3 per cent of digital book sales in Spanish, followed by Mexico and the United States. The report also stated that the Spanish digital book market is thriving as a whole, with a 4 per cent growth recorded worldwide, including a 5 per cent increase in Spain in 2022. The market reached a whopping €119 million in sales last year, with €79 million of that coming from Spain and €40 million from the rest of the world.
What’s more, nearly 7 per cent of books read in Spain are now read in a digital format, a figure which rises to 40 per cent for some titles. The majority of sales are made through international online platforms such as Amazon, Apple, and Google, though there was also a significant increase in sales for traditional bookstores and independent online platforms.
