The Northern region accounts for approximately 35% of Portugal’s total export value, with 42% of its companies engaged in export activities.
In Greater Lisbon, the percentage of exporting companies has increased by 1.8 percentage points since 2019, with 32% of companies now involved in exports.
The study “Exporting Companies in Portugal” by Informa D&B, which analyzed data up to 2023, indicates that the size of companies is correlated with their export capacity. Among microenterprises, which make up 94% of the business landscape, only 9% are exporters.
Conversely, large companies, although representing just 0.3% of the business sector, have 56% engaging in exports, contributing more than half (58%) of the total export value.
Portuguese exports are primarily concentrated in industries, business services, and wholesalers, which together comprise 56% of exporting companies.
However, the Information and Communication Technology sector has experienced the highest increase in the number of exporting firms, now representing 12% of the total.
The report notes that the number of exporting companies has been rising for over a decade, with an acceleration in recent years, leading to the emergence of more than 5,000 new exporters between 2020 and 2023.
This trend, despite a setback during the pandemic, has increasingly contributed to economic growth, with exports accounting for nearly half of the national GDP in 2023, nearly double the proportion recorded two decades ago.
In 2023, however, there was a slowdown in the export sector, primarily due to a decrease in goods exports, although services experienced growth.
Almost three-quarters of the exports consist of goods (72%), while the majority of exporting companies (56%) focus on providing services.
