Portuguese companies eye Scandinavian markets in diversification bid
The economic crisis in France and Germany, and the introduction of tariffs in the US, is forcing Portuguese companies to explore markets in Scandinavia.
Companies are seeing growth potential in Sweden, Norway and Denmark where the volume of exports have increased in recent years, with the textile, footwear and manufacturing industries targeting these countries.
Exports to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland reached €2.3Bn in 2024, which represents an increase of over 10% on the €2.1Bn posted in 2023.
Sales to these markets, despite still only representing a small slice of total Portuguese exports (around 3%), has seen a growth trend in recent years and the expectation is that the numbers will continue to grow.
“Geopolitics will tend to gain greater influence in international trade, as is already visible. In this sense, there will be an opportunity for countries that are part of the European Union – such as Sweden, Denmark and Finland – and countries that, although not part of the European Union, share the essential values of the European Union, to strengthen trade relations with Portugal,” explains the President of the Portuguese Enterprise Association, Luís Miguel Ribeiro.
“Moreover, the dynamism of several Nordic economies and their high purchasing power represent an excellent opportunity for companies with a greater export orientation to sell more sophisticated goods, in line with one of the national objectives – which the AEP also defends – to export with more value,” adds the president of the AEP.
The AEP president adds that there is a “huge potential to increase the weight of exports to Scandinavian countries and if achieved this would be an opportunity to partly offset the tariffs imposed by the US market.”
In terms of sectors with the greatest presence in these markets, Luís Miguel Ribeiro points out that “among the sectors that export the most to the Nordic countries are the automotive, textile, footwear, food and wine sectors. In addition, the remarkable values exported from mineral products and common metals also stand out,” he details.
The textile and clothing sector, which saw a decline of around 4% in exports to around €5.6Bn in 2024, exports between 4% and 5% of this amount to the Nordic markets, according to the ATP – Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal. “They are small markets in absolute terms, with obvious limitations of scale, and cannot replace, either in value or volume, markets such as the US, France, or Germany,” the association told ECO.
But with the US slapping tariffs on European imports, the diversification of markets is increasingly seen by exporters as a necessity.
“The fall in orders to the US should be offset by market diversification” says the AEP, and the Scandinavian markets have the potential to strengthen Portugal’s share of exports.
