Exporting advice
Entry route to lusophone markets
Portugal is a gateway to Portuguese-speaking markets. These include Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.
Economic growth opportunities
The Portuguese economy is now growing consistently above the Eurozone average, with a very competitive knowledge-based export sector and a buoyant start up scene. Financial services, clean growth, life sciences and technology represent the biggest opportunities for British exports. Over the medium-term, there’s likely to be significant business opportunities in infrastructure, particularly rail and airports, and mining.
Top five UK goods exported to Portugal , in the four quarters to the end of Q4 2024
| Goods | Value (£ million ) |
|---|---|
| Cars | |
| Metal ores & scrap | |
| Mechanical power generators (intermediate) | |
| Iron & steel | |
| General industrial machinery (capital) |
Source:
ONS Trade in goods: country-by-commodity exports
Last updated: February 2025
Download the latest trade and investment factsheet for Portugal.
Total import value (into the UK from Portugal) and export value (from the UK into Portugal) over time
| Year | Imports (£ billion ) | Exports (£ billion ) | Total trade (£ billion ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5.4 | 2.8 | 8.2 |
| 2017 | 5.9 | 3.1 | 9.0 |
| 2018 | 6.2 | 3.3 | 9.6 |
| 2019 | 6.6 | 3.5 | 10.1 |
| 2020 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 6.4 |
| 2021 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 7.5 |
| 2022 | 7.5 | 3.2 | 10.7 |
| 2023 | 7.6 | 3.3 | 10.9 |
Source:
ONS UK total trade: all countries, seasonally adjusted
Last updated: January 2025
Total trade is the sum of all exports and imports over the same time period.
Download the latest trade and investment factsheet for Portugal.
Portugal: at a glance
Economic growth
2.3%
Actual figure (IMF, 2023)
The UK is 0.1% (IMF, 2023, projected figure)
GDP per capita
$27,835
Actual figure (IMF, 2023)
The UK is $49,099 (IMF, 2023, projected figure)
Currency
Euro
Business language
Portuguese, English
Time zone
GMT +0
(Portugal, Madeira)
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Opportunities for exporters
There are opportunities for UK companies across a broad range of industries. Our trade advisers in Portugal have identified particular opportunities for UK businesses in the following sectors.
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Financial services are undergoing a fundamental upheaval, fuelled by emerging technologies, such as generative AI, automation, open banking and digital currencies. Collaboration among entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and regulators will be critical in propelling the industry ahead while maintaining its safety and fairness. The UK is at the forefront of most of these new trends and British companies can benefit from the fact that the Portuguese market is not so sophisticated in some of these areas.
Digital transformation
Digital transformation has become one of the top priorities of the business fabric in the post-pandemic world. 41% of Portuguese companies are digitalising their financial processes and an additional 24% believe that this should be among their strategic priorities. In particular, there is demand for companies specialising in RPA, machine learning, big data and analytics.
Green finance
It is important to catalyse a wider range offer of green finance products and to increase awareness of the long term benefits to look for these type of products. This is in order to align with the Green Deal, with the EU taxonomy and environmental goals, with the Portuguese carbon neutrality goal for 2045 and with the green recovery ambition expressed in the Resilience and Recovery Plan.
Innovation and efficiency
Safer, easier financial services are born from technology applied to payments and financial transfers, loans and credits, personal finance, alternative finance, cybersecurity, blockchain, capital markets and wealth management. Portuguese mature institutions are demonstrating increased interest in working with new talented fintechs, showing that they can benefit from the expertise of British companies to enter the digitalisation era into their businesses. Portugal still lacks deep knowledge on cryptocurrencies, blockchain systems and AI platforms that can attract national and foreign investment.
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The life sciences sector presents a wide range of opportunities for innovative and cost-effective solutions, particularly in healthcare. Current priority areas include personalised medicine, chronic disease management, assisted living technologies, remote monitoring sensors, AI and analytics for health, diagnosis, solutions for healthy ageing and clinical trials development.
Cost efficient solutions
While the Portuguese government continues to implement restructuring measures aimed at the sustainability of its NHS and the private sector players continue to expand their offering, opportunities arise for suppliers of innovative, cost-efficient solutions.
Partnerships
Portuguese companies are looking for commercial and technological partnerships that are both cost effective and innovative. Their aim is to add value to their projects in Portugal and overseas, including in other Portuguese-speaking countries.
Recognition of British companies
UK expertise in life sciences is highly regarded in Portugal and there are many links with British companies, universities, and research and development institutions. Portugal is also an early adopter of new technologies, and somewhere players can benefit from one of the most advanced digital infrastructures in Europe.
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In recent years, the Portuguese government has supported existing technology clusters and made significant efforts in attracting tech-based companies to set up locally, creating new supply chain opportunities. In addition, funding programmes in key areas within digital transformation have been developed to support municipalities across the country to become more sustainable and for businesses to upskill and update their existing tech capability.
Co-operation and investment
The main telecoms operators in Portugal made substantial investments in the development of a fibre-optics network (one of the best in Europe) over the last decade. They are now preparing for the next stage in innovation, co-developing with other tech providers. This translates into further investments in areas such as 5G, smart cities, visualisation and digital experience, cloud services, data centres, data analytics, AI and advanced computing.
Leadership in innovation
High profile technology events taking place in Portugal, notably the Web Summit, have expanded the country’s reputation as a tech and innovation hub. They've encouraged local players to innovate and adopt new technology solutions at a faster pace.
Testbed potential
Many global tech players use the Portuguese market as a testbed for new solutions given the rate of early adopters, which makes it an interesting place to pitch new solutions to well established operators.
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Portugal is creating a lithium mining and industrial ecosystem within Europe’s energy transition and autonomation. Barroso lithium mining project by Savannah Resources plc was designated as a strategic project under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
Deep mining
Portugal is very rich in mineral deposits which are not easy to extract and require sophisticated expertise. Therefore, British companies specialised in deep mining are in demand in Portugal.
Refinery and battery production
Portugal has great deposits of lithium but lacks the industrial infrastructure to refine it and use it to produce batteries. Therefore, UK companies with this expertise, in particular with factory businesses, are in demand. Investment in battery production has been raising, namely by Chinese players, to build the lithium ecosystem Portugal aims at. This is generating opportunities for suppliers of products and services required by the extraction to production cycle.
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In 2024, Portugal approved the revised 2030 National Plan for Energy and Climate (PNEC) which entails great ambition and reaffirms Portugal’s commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. Another important objective sets that 93% of electricity consumed by 2030 should come from renewable energy sources. The UK has a golden opportunity to invest in, partner with or export to the market.
Large scale solar energy
Portugal set a record for solar deployment in 2024, installing 1.77 GW and surpassing the previous year's total. The country's cumulative installed PV capacity now stands at 5.66 GW, as it works toward a revised 20.8 GW target by 2030.
Offshore wind
Portugal has announced its first offshore wind auction setting the 2030 target at 2GW. The definition of the areas for building offshore wind farms were officially published and the first phase (the tender) is expected to take place by the end of 2025. Strong opportunities for UK’s expertise in offshore wind and capability to supply EPC, Subsea cables and all kind of offshore wind and marine technologies.
Green hydrogen
Portugal is advancing in its hydrogen sector with €6.9 billion EU funding for green hydrogen projects. This includes 790 MW of electrolysers and a tender for 3,000 tons of green hydrogen and 10,000 tons of renewable methane. GreenH2Atlantic will develop a 100 MW project in Sines.
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In the current decade Portugal has been implementing an ambitious multi-million investment plan called PNI 2030, embracing energy, environment, water and transport. Major mass transport projects have been emerging generating opportunities for UK companies, as local public and private players need to complement their offer with relevant products and services.
New Lisbon airport
The new airport will integrate the Portuguese system run by ANA, a Vinci company. The company has been negotiating with the government the terms and conditions to deliver the project, currently estimated at over €8 billion.
High-speed rail
The Porto-Lisbon high-speed rail connection, estimated at €4.5 billion, is ongoing with calls for tender for the construction and management of 4 links, and subsequently the connections to the Spanish network will be developed. The first link was already awarded to the local consortium Lusolav.
Check for trade barriers
Trade barriers, such as tariffs or taxes, can raise costs, cause delays, or even stop you from exporting. Check for any issues that may impact your business when exporting.
Check duties and customs
Find information on how to export goods from the UK. View the duties, rules, restrictions, and the documents you need for your products.
Doing business in Portugal
Preparing to export
Tax
The Portuguese Ministry of Finance (website is in Portuguese) provides information on the Portuguese tax system and the conventions for the avoidance of double taxation.
The statutory corporate income tax rate for Portugal is 25%. The effective corporate tax rate is 29.5% to 31.5%.
VAT
VAT is known as IVA in Portugal and the standard rate is currently 23%. Rates of 6% and 13% can also apply.
The VAT rate for goods imported into Madeira and the Azores are 22% and 16% respectively.
The Portuguese VAT Division provides further information on VAT payments.
Standards and regulations
Products and packaging should meet EU standards.
The Food and Economic Security Authority (website is in Portuguese) is the authority specialised in securing food safety and for conducting inspections.
When exporting to Portugal, you must provide all transport documents, commercial invoices, and certificates of compliance relating to quality and sanitary measures.
Services regulations
Information on rules for selling services and business travel to Portugal is available on gov.uk.
Trade barriers
Check for any reported barriers to trading with Portugal.
Report any trade barriers that are affecting your business so we can help fix them.
Operating in Portugal
Intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) rights are territorial and rights granted in the UK do not provide protection elsewhere. You should consider getting IP protection abroad if you want to trade overseas or sell to overseas customers via the internet.
The Intellectual Property Office provides practical information to help you protect, manage and enforce your IP abroad. Further support for British businesses can be found through a network of IP attachés, based in key UK export markets.
Payment terms
Payment terms are usually 30, 60 and 90 days. Large corporations, including large retailers, usually negotiate or impose longer payment terms that can last up to six months.
Considerations
Trial periods of between 6 months and 1 year are recommended before signing lengthy agency contracts. Despite recent reforms, the legal system is still complex and slow.
Next steps
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