According to Jornal Económico, the global economic landscape remains volatile and sectors that are mainly export-oriented must exercise "some restraint in light of seasonal results" that may indicate an improvement in business conditions.
José Couto, president of the Portuguese Manufacturers Association for the Automotive Industryy (AFIA), says, in statements to JE, that the automotive components sector has reached a share of 17% of tradable goods exports. "We have to wait for the results of the first quarter accumulation to have more certainty”.
In any case, the 17% - the cumulative total at the end of the first two months of the year - is a record. The final figures for 2023, according to data provided to JE by AFIA's Secretary General, Adão Ferreira, show that the sector's share of total exports was 16.5%, and at a time when expectations for the industry were modest, exports surprised by reaching 1.111 billion euros in February 2024, an increase of 5.1% compared to the same month last year - compared to an overall growth of 2.3% in total exports.
Regarding the cumulative value of exports of automotive components since January, there is an increase of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 2.200 billion euros in the first two months of 2024. AFIA states that, by region, Europe accounts for 89.4% (an increase of 2.3% compared to the same period in 2023). The American continent shows a growth of 20.9% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2023, concentrating 5.6% of Portuguese exports of automotive components. The regions of Africa and the Middle East and Asia and Oceania, which account for 3% and 1.9% of Portuguese exports of transport equipment, respectively, recorded a decrease of 4.6% and 7.2% in the cumulative period up to February compared to the first two months of 2023.