Textile exports growing at a good pace

Even while the international scenario still displays signs of a certain volatility, with various uncertainties hindering any full economic recovery, Portuguese exports in the textile and clothing sectors closed the first nine months of this year up 1.6% on the same period in 2019 with a total value in the region of 4 billion euros.

Making a year-on-year comparison of the January to September figure results in a 16.1% surge according to data from the INE – the Portuguese Institute for Statistics. By markets, the best performances came from France and the United States, advancing by 72 million euros (+14.4%) and 64.5 million euros (+25.5%), respectively.

“The best performances were recorded in the categories of home furnishing products and other manufactured textile articles, which registered an increase of 129 million euros on 2019 (+27.6%), driven particularly by bedding, table, stand and kitchen products with the export value soaring by 24% (corresponding to an increase of 86 million euros)”, explained the ATP (the Association of Textiles and Clothing of Portugal).

The textile garment sector “continues to register the worst performance, with a fall of 165 million euros, that is, down 22.2%, demonstrating its inability to recover from the impacts of the pandemic crisis”. In turn, the knitwear segment exported over 113 million euros, up 7% on the same period in 2019.