Exports fell 1% in 2023

Portuguese exports of goods posted a slight like-for-like growth in December, countering a series of eight consecutive monthly falls, while imports fell on the same month like-for-like according to data from the national statistics institute INE.

The first annual results for 2023 show a fall in exports and imports of 1% and 4.1% respectively overall, enabling a reduction in the deficit in the trade balance of €3.727 Bn.
Exports posted growth of 0.3% in December on the same month in 2022 after having fallen 1.9%, in what was the eighth consecutive month of falls.
Imports also fell by 5.9% in December 2023 like-for-like. Nevertheless, the rate of fall slowed in relation to the decrease of 7.9% seen in November.
The INE highlights the increase in the exports of industrial supplies (+5.2%), particularly medicines, and the falls in imports of industrial supplies (-12.8%) and fuels and lubricants (-16-5%), justified by “reductions in volumes (-21.9%) and in value (-60.7%) for natural gas, mostly reflecting the fall in the price in gas. (-49.7%).
The commercial trade balance deficit fell €533 million in December, 2023 in like-for-like terms, reaching €2.325Bn. Excluding fuels and lubricants, the deficit fell €375 million to €1.8Bn.
In Q4 of 2023, exports and imports fell 1.8% and 5.3% respectively, and -4.7% and -7.7% in like-for-like terms respectively for he quarter ending in November, 2023.