LISBON: Portuguese exports in July fell by 4.6 percent year on year, according to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE). According to the INE, exports to countries outside the European Union (EU) had the biggest effect on the overall drop in exports seen in July of this year.
Exports to Angola fell 39.9 percent, exports to the United States by 22.6 percent and by 29.6 percent to China. In terms of imports, there was a drop of 5.7 percent in purchases from Spain, which had the most significant effect on the overall drop in imports in the period, INE said. There was also a significant drop in imports from Angola (-54.7 percent) and the United States (-23.4 percent), compared to July 2015.
The visible trade balance (not including services and other intangibles) in July was reduced by €174 million compared to July 2015, whilst the trade deficit, excluding fuels and other oil derivatives, fell by €13 million to €353 million. On a more positive front, exports of textiles and clothing from Portugal increased by 5 percent year on year in the first seven months of the year (January-July), to €3.06 billion, a sector association official revealed.
The balance of trade for textiles and clothing totalled €813 million between January and July of this year compared to the same period of last year said the Portuguese Association of Textiles and Clothing (ATP – Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal), based on the latest information from the INE.
Textile exports, excluding home textiles, rose by 2 percent to €790 million, while clothing sales rose 7 percent to €1.858 million. Although Spain was the biggest export destination for the sector (35 percent of the total and a rise of 11 percent in the first seven months, to €108.7 million), the performance of Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) along with Germany and Italy improved.
Portuguese sales of textiles and clothing to Finland rose by 23 percent to €3.3 million, to Denmark they increased by 5 percent year on year to €2.5 million and to Sweden improved by 19 percent to €11.5 million. Portuguese exports to Germany rose 6 percent to €15.2 million in the first seven months and to Italy they increased by 12 percent to €14.1 million.
