According to data from the Banco de Portugal, Portuguese exports of goods and services reached a cumulative value of €41.1 billion from January to April. This represents an increase of €1.5 billion (+3.8%) compared with the same period last year. Imports amounted to 40.3 billion euro, an increase of 214.4 million euro.
These results led to a surplus of 1.1 bn euro, corresponding to a change in the balance of 1.3 bn euro. The coverage of imports by exports stood at 102.6% in 2024, an improvement of 3.2 percentage points (pp) compared with the same period of the previous year.
In April 2024 alone, exports of goods and services recorded nominal growth rates of 13.7% year-on-year and 6.2% compared to March 2024, reaching €11.1 billion in absolute terms.
In the first four months of 2024, the European Union accounted for 64.8% of total Portuguese exports of goods and services, growing by 2.6%. Non-EU countries (35.2% of the total) grew by 6.1%.
By country, Spain was the leading destination for exports, with a share of 19.7% of the total, followed by France (11.9%) and Germany (11.8%). The United Kingdom, with a share of 8.8%, was the main destination outside the EU and the fourth largest overall, followed by the USA with a share of 7.6%.
Exports to the USA were particularly strong (+531.5 million euro, +20.2% year-on-year), followed by Germany (+469.8 million euro, +10.6% year-on-year) and the United Kingdom (+224.8 million euro, +6.6% year-on-year). Travel and tourism was the main export category, accounting for 16.5% of total exports, followed by machinery and equipment (9.5%) and vehicles and other transport equipment (9.0%).
