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 Portuguese
external trade is mainly with the markets of the
European Community countries (74% in
1994).
Commerce
with the United States grew in 1993 and 1994
(Portugal imports 3.7% of its goods and services
from the US and exports 5.3% to the USA)
Angola
was the 12th biggest customer in 1994. The main
manufactured goods are textiles, clothes, machinery
and electric material (vehicle cables, microchips,
televisions, transformers) and mechanical
tools.
Angola
imports 16.4% and exports 10.2% to countries which
are not members of the OECD. Portugal imports 19.8%
and exports 12.1% to Spain. For the rest of Europe
the imports represent 50.5% and the exports
60.5%.
The
main clients were Germany (19%), France (15%),
Spain (15%) and Great Britain (12%).
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Trade
Balance per product
(1994)
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|
|
Exportation
%
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Importation
%
|
|
Agricultural
and food products
|
7.3
|
14.4
|
|
Mineral
and fuel products
|
4.0
|
8.4
|
|
Chemical,
plastic, rubber products
|
6.3
|
12.3
|
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Wood,
cork, paper, and cellulose
|
10.9
|
3.9
|
|
Textiles
and clothing
|
26.2
|
10.0
|
|
Leather
and shoes
|
10.0
|
2.9
|
|
Non-metallic
minerals
|
6.2
|
1.5
|
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Metals
and metallic products
|
3.8
|
6.5
|
|
Machines
and electric materials
|
15.8
|
19.2
|
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Vehicles
and transport equipment
|
5.9
|
15.3
|
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Other
products
|
3.6
|
5.6
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In
1994 Portugal attracted 21.7 million visitors (5.6%
more than in 1993). 9.1 million of them were
tourists.
This
was a huge growth compared with 1980 (7 million
visitors, 2.5 million tourists)
The
major part came from western Europe, the European
Union and the USA :
-
Great Britain: 14%
- Germany : 9%
- France : 7%
- Holland: 4%
- Italy : 3%
- Others : 13%
- Spain : 50% (Source : DGT)
Tourism
generates an important revenue for the country, 3.8
billion dollars in 1994.
AGRICULTURE
A
third of the population works in agriculture. The
methods used are old fashioned and are evolving
slowly. In the north there is mainly small
individual properties and in the south there are
large landowners who employ a daily
workforce.
Overall,
the main products are cereals (in the north it is
maize, in the south it is wheat) and wine and
olives, fruit and vegetables, sheep and cattle
rearing (not enough for the national market), cork,
and fishing (sardines, tuna, anchovies).
The
farming methods are too old fashioned for the
production to be able to have a place on the world
market, except for wine where there are excellent
products (Vino Verde for example).
In
fact wine is the only product which puts Portugal
in first place among world producers, and in third
place among world producers for wine per
inhabitant.
11% of farmed land is used for vineyards, against
8% for wheat and 5% for maize.
The
harvests are much lower than in France, there was
1934 kilos per hectare of wheat in 1994, and 6489
kilos in the French production.
Animal
production is not very big, except for pig rearing
of which there are
2,550,000 head and sheep of which there are
7,000,000 head (that is 3 times the French
production in proportion to the
population).
Fishing
is an important activity in Portugal, there was 28
kilos fished per inhabitant against 14 kilos in
France in 1993. In that year there was 274,000
tons.
In
1992 the average French farmer generated 10,000
dollars of added value per year against 2,000
dollars on average for a Portuguese
farmer.
The
Portuguese agriculatural balance always shows a
deficit, it was 2 billion dollars in 1993, that is
2.6% of the GNP.
Agriculture
employs 11.4% of the working population and
contributes 5.1% to the GNP.
INDUSTRY
There
is not a big mining production.
The
main minerals are copper, coal, uranium and
tin.
Hydroelectricity
is an important sector of production thanks to the
Douro River.
Industrial
activity has been dropping since 1991.
Certain
sectors of production are going to be reorganized
by the government, e.g. the steel industry, ship
building and airline companies. There will
therefore be a lot of redundancy before
privatization can be envisaged.
Textiles
and clothing which are the main sectors absorb 19%
of the industrial added value compared to 6% in
France, agriculture and food follow just behind
absorbing 18% of added value compared to 13% in
France.
Mines
employ 1% of the working population and contribute
1% to the GNP.
Industry
employs 32.1% of the working population and
contributes 38.2% to the GNP.
OTHER
SECTORS
Services
employ 55.5% of the working population and
contribute 55.7% to the GNP.
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