The Portuguese cork industry is to invest €7.3 million by the year end in a communications campaign to help the sector burst through the barrier of €1 billion of exports.
The Intercork II campaign will concentrate on 9 markets - the USA, China, Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, Canada, Sweden and Denmark, the main focus will be on cork stoppers to wine producing countries and cork as a building material used worldwide.
Portugal are world leaders in the cork sector which accounts for 8,000 local jobs, many more thousand seasonal jobs, and which exports 95% of its production to over 100 countries.
After three years with average annual growth rates of 7%, exports levelled off in 2013 at €835 million. Commenting on this situation João Rui Ferreira, president of the Portuguese Cork Association, said the devaluation of the dollar, the decline in the construction sector and the fact that the wine harvest 2012 was the lowest of the millennium all served to depress export sales.
Amorim is Portugal’s largest cork business in a sector that is technologically astute and has invested €500 million in recent years in quality control, innovation and the development of new applications for the material.
Looking ahead, Ferreira reckons that 2014 will be "a decisive year to look closely at the product. After stabilising our market share, it's time for growth."
The cork industry’s results have drawn comment from the Minister of the Economy, Pires de Lima, who is full of praise for "the admirable way in which the industry has reinvented the business. It is a good example of how a traditional sector can contribute to add value to the national economy."
