Portugal with 2.337 more exporting companies in 2021

The countries where the largest number of exporting firms concentrated were Spain, France and the United Kingdom and the products most manufactured by them were Machinery and Appliances, Base Metals and Plastics and Rubber. Spain was the main destination of exports in value and in number of companies.

Based on data from INE (preliminary results), of the 23.045 exporting firms in 2021, 79,6 percent individually exported up to €1 million, 18,9 percent between €1 million and €25 million. Only 1,5 percent of firms exported above 25 million euros: 0,8 percent up to 50 million euros and 0,8 percent over 50 million euros.

The top 20 exporting companies represented 24,3 percent of total exports in 2021. In alphabetical order, this group includes Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal, Petrogal, The Navigator Company and Volkswagen Autoeuropa, with exports exceeding 750 million euros. It should be noted that of the top 20 exporting companies, four are branches of non-resident companies.

In terms of market diversification, 10.905 firms (47,4 percent of the total) exported to only one country, accounting for 6,3 percent of total exports by value. Only 1.198 firms (5,2 percent of the total) exported to at least 20 countries, accounting for 44,2 percent of total exports in value. Note that the average value exported per firm/market increases as firms export to a larger number of markets, an indicator of their larger size.

By countries, Spain, France and the United Kingdom recorded the highest number of exporting firms, with 7.308 firms, 6.387 firms and 6.304 firms, respectively. Spain was the leading export market by value and by number of firms, and represented on average 62,8 percent of the total exports of firms that sold to that market.

Spain and Angola were the only export markets for 938 firms (12,8 percent of firms exporting to Spain) and 1.969 firms (46,6 percent of all firms exporting to Angola), respectively.

The product groups with the highest number of exporting firms were Machines and Apparatus (8.114 firms), Common Metals (6.926 firms), and Plastics and Rubber (6.662 firms).

The districts of Lisbon and Porto stand out with 5.530 companies (24,0 percent of the total) and 4.977 companies (21,6 percent of the total), respectively, followed by Braga (2.727 companies), Aveiro (2.431 companies), and Leiria (1.576 companies).

Source: AICEP Portugal