Health export increase 5,4%

Export in health rose 5,4% in the first quarter, compared to the same period the previous year, to 443 million euros, with emphasis on pharmaceutical preparations, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), cited by Health Cluster Portugal.

"Exports in health grew 5,4% in the first three months of the year, compared to the same period the previous year [...]. In the period January to March, exports in health reached an absolute value of 443 million euros, compared to 420 million euros in the same period last year," the Health Cluster Portugal association said in a statement.

This evolution was impacted by exports of pharmaceutical preparations, which increased 3% to 297 million euros.

In turn, the sales abroad of instruments and medical-surgical material increased 8,9% in the first quarter, to 92 million euros.

In total, Portuguese exports advanced 6,2% between January and March, with an overseas sales volume of more than 907.000 million euros."

Portuguese companies have made a great effort to consolidate their presence in foreign markets, even with the current difficulties, as a result of the global context. We are confident that in 2021 we will continue to have very positive advances regarding the internationalization of this sector, thus boosting the trade balance," said Joaquim Cunha, executive director of the Health Cluster, in a statement.

The Health Cluster Portugal is a private non-profit association, which has more than 180 members, such as universities, hospitals, organizations and companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technologies and services areas.

Source: SAPO