Portuguese exports of agricultural and food products increased by 11% in 2013, according to the National Institute of Statistics, but this increase was swamped by a flood of food imports with shoppers eschewing local goods for imported ones.
This consumer behaviour, due primarily to the supermarket chains controlling supply, is easy to change but not seen as Community minded behaviour.
The Institute explained that the increase in imports mainly was due to imported meat and something called ‘edible offal,’ up 13.3%; bizarrely ‘fruit, citrus fruits and melons,’ with a rise of 17.9% and ‘vegetables and certain roots and tubers,’ where Portugal imports rose 24.9%.
Most of these products are coming in from Spain which supplied 46.9% of Portugal’s food, up by 1.4% compared to 2012.
Portugal did manage to export more olive oil than in imported with 2013 output representing a record year, and cork.
