Portuguese exports in the metallurgy and metalworking sector recorded “the best” month “in its history” in November, with 1.964 billion euros, 9.7% more than in 2020 and 0.8% more than in 2019.
“The month of November 2021 turned out to be the best ever in terms of Metal Portugal’s exports, with a record €1 964 million, surpassing the month of March of the same year, which had recorded a figure of €1 926 million,” the Association of Metallurgical, Metalworking and Allied Industries of Portugal (AIMMAP) says in a statement.
According to the statement, “this mark is reached in a year that started with a steady growth trend, as eight of the top 10 marks were reached even during the period of the pandemic”.
AIMMAP also points out that the growth recorded compared to the record year of 2019 “comes in a context in which the energy and fuel crisis continues to affect the performance of companies in the sector, as well as the galloping rise in raw material prices, the shortage of raw materials and the considerable increase in the cost of transport”.
According to the association, “this growth trend is still due to the considerable growth, between January and November 2021, of non-EU markets”, which increased by 42%, namely Japan, China, Australia, Morocco, Turkey and Australia.
Even so, “this diversification of markets that continues to gain preponderance is accompanied by traditional markets such as Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, which maintain the largest share of Metal Portugal’s exports, with 79.4%”.
Quoted in the statement, AIMMAP vice-president Rafael Campos Pereira says he is “increasingly confident that 2021 will be the record year, surpassing 2019”.
“This is a record that makes us proud because we can denote that companies have overcome a set of challenges never faced at the same time, from the pandemic crisis to the rising costs of raw materials, transport, energy and fuel, as well as the pressing difficulty in recruiting labour, an essential factor to meet the demand of foreign markets, he says.
For the association leader, “the impressive performance of Metal Portugal reveals a great resilience of its companies, which have been able to reinvent themselves in this difficult period”.
In Transportes & Negócios