The North region accounts for around 35% of the total value of Portuguese exports, with 42% of the companies based in the region exporting. Lisbon region exports grew by 1.8 percentage points since 2019 in terms of the number of exporters, with 32% of its companies already exporting.
According to the study “Exporting Companies in Portugal” by Informa D&B, which analysed data up to 2023, the size of companies is related to their export capacity. Among micro-enterprises, which make up 94% of the business sector, only 9% are exporters.
On the other hand, and representing only 0.3% of the business sector, 56% of large companies are exporters, also accounting for more than half (58%) of the total value of exports.
Portuguese exports are concentrated in industries, business services and wholesalers, which together account for 56% of exporting companies. However, the Information and Communication Technology sector once again recorded the highest increase in the number of exporters, now representing 12% of the total.
The document states that the number of exporters has been growing for over a decade, having accelerated in recent years, with more than 5,000 new exporters emerging between 2020 and 2023.
This growth, despite its decline during the pandemic, has given exports an increasingly greater weight in the production of wealth, with exports accounting for around half of the national GDP in 2023, almost double the amount recorded 20 years ago.
However, in 2023, there was a slowdown in the business of exporters, due to the decline in exports of goods, as services registered growth in 2023. Almost three-quarters of exports are goods (72%), although the majority of exporting companies (56%) base their business on the sale of services.