Portugal now has a record-breaking 41,359 exporting companies, with the North region emerging as the top exporter of Portuguese goods, according to the findings from a study by Informa D&B.

The North region represents about 35% of Portugal’s total export value, and 42% of companies there are exporters.

Meanwhile, the Lisbon region has seen its share of exporting companies increase by 1.8 percentage points since 2019, with 32% of its businesses currently engaged in exports.

The study ‘Exporting Companies in Portugal’ by Informa D&B, analysing data up until 2023, found that company size is linked to export capacity. Indeed, among micro-enterprises, which constitute 94% of the business sector, only 9% engage in exporting, The Portugal News reports.

Conversely, although large companies make up just 0.3% of the country’s business sector, 56% of them are exporters, contributing over half (58%) of the total export value.

Portuguese exports are primarily concentrated in industries, business services, and wholesale sectors, which together represent 56% of exporting companies. Notably, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector saw the largest growth in exporters, now accounting for 12% of the total.

In addition, the report highlights that the number of exporters has been rising for over 10 years, with the pace accelerating recently. Indeed, between 2020 and 2023, more than 5,000 new exporters emerged.

Despite a slowdown during the pandemic, this growth has increased the significance of exports in generating wealth, with exports representing about half of Portugal’s GDP in 2023, nearly twice the share seen two decades ago.

However, in 2023, exporter activity slowed down due to a decline in goods exports, even though services exports experienced growth that year. While goods still make up nearly three-quarters (72%) of total exports, most exporting companies (56%) primarily focus on selling services.