Wood and furniture exports to €2.5Bn
Despite the pandemic, 2021 was a good year for Portuguese export sales of wood and furniture which achieved €2.587Bn in sales, surpassing the historic €1.6Bn achieved in 2019.
The President of the Association of Wood and Furniture Industries of Portugal (AIMMP), Vítor Poças is “very pleased” with the sector’s performance, but warns that a 21% growth in imports which led to an “abrupt fall” in the commercial balance of payments by €440 million.
This sector comprises around 8,000 companies which employ over 55,000 staff and ranges from felling trees to manufacturing furniture, packaging and panels as well as biomass energy and carpentry, among others.
Vítor Poças sees the results as a “case study in Portugal” given that exports have grown by €1Bn in just a decade, going from €1.552Bn in 2010 to €2.585Bn in 2019, which represents an increase of 66.6%.
All sub-sectors of the sector have enjoyed growth in this period, with a special focus on the furniture, mattress and lighting segments which shot up by 85.5% to €1.812Bn in 2019.
Image: AIMMP