Portuguese exports of goods grew by more than 24% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2020, a weak and atypical year. It’s the biggest spike in official records going back to 1994.
However, data released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) indicates that the exporting country has easily overcome the devastating impact of the pandemic: sales of merchandise were about 3% higher than the value recorded in the first half of 2019, and everything remains in order okay. smoothly.
This is more than 900 million euros in bills. Food, beverages, chemicals and machinery are among the main factors explaining this return to the markets.
According to a survey by DN/Dinheiro Vivo, five sectors stand out in this export resumption.
Comparing the first half of this year always with the first half of 2019 (since 2020 has been quite unusual due to the pandemic and the interruption of many activities and businesses), the largest contribution came from the “machines and equipment” category which generated an increase of 330 million euros.
In its wake comes the binomial “food and beverages”, with an increase of 275 million euros compared to the last two years.
The shipment of “Basic Metals” earned $274 million. Chemical products, such as pesticides, fertilizers, fertilizers and various additives, collected more than 264 million euros compared to the first half of 2019.
INE’s database of international trade shows that the UK, Spain and France were the strongest markets in this period.
Of course, not everything is won you know. There are markets that have collapsed due to the epidemic and are still recovering. It may take some time.
The biggest brake on resuming exports (always compared to the first half of 2019) has been undisputed car sales. This export line lost 647 million euros compared to two years ago. Compared to the first half of last year, it is even worse: DN / Dinheiro Vivo accounts based on INE data indicating an erosion of more than 885 million euros in this branch of exports.
Compared to 2019, the “clothing goods” item brought in a decrease of 117 million euros.
In the “leather, leather and leather goods” sector, exporters in Portugal lost 113 million euros. That was the situation at the end of last June, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
Despite many complaints, the fuel sector, one of the most valuable sectors of the economy in terms of exports, only fell by 47 million euros compared to the situation in the middle of the pre-pandemic year.
As mentioned earlier, in regional markets there are very good examples, but also bad ones.
Compared to June 2019, the UK (now outside the EU) bought a significant additional €1.6 billion from Portugal.
The second most important contribution comes from Spain, the country’s largest economic partner, which earned another 715 million euros for Portugal’s exporters.
Third, there are the French, who sourced more than 221 million euros from goods made in Portugal.
Using another classification of the type of goods, the National Institute of Statistics asserts that “in the first half of 2021, compared to the same period in 2019, exports increased by 2.9% and imports decreased by 5.4% (24.2% and 16, 6%, compared to the same period in 2019). First half of 2020, respectively)”.
“In both flows, the most notable events were an increase in industrial supplies (5.4% in exports and 10.4% in imports) and machinery and other capital goods (10.7% and 4.6%, respectively) and a decrease in transport materials. [onde estão os automóveis] (-9.7% and -33.2% in the same order)”.
In this highlight of international trade, INE also highlights a sector that has already gained weight and recovered from the pandemic: products originating from the forest. Within this group, only paper for newspapers, magazines, and graphic uses have been recovered, says the National Institute of Statistics.
Forest products already have an appropriate weight in the international trade of goods: “8.7% of exports and 3.4% of imports in 2020,” he begins with reference to the statistical authority.
According to the institute, “exports and imports increased by 16.6% and 9.7%, respectively, in the first half of 2021 after the declines recorded in 2020, having already exceeded 1.7% and 0.9%, respectively. The period since 2019”.
However, the “paper and cardboard sector, the main exported product”, “was the only one that maintained, in the first half of 2021, a lower level of exports compared to the same period in 2019 (-7.3%), mainly due to on paper And the card is for graphic uses (-17.6%).”
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