Even metallurgy and metalworking, the export-leading industries, are not immune to the cooling of European economies, especially Germany’s. In September, turnover abroad fell by 8.6% to 1,859 million euros, 175 million less than in the same month of 2022. The news remains positive this year: exports are growing by 7.1% to 18,173 million euros. which makes us believe in a new all-time high in 2023.
“As we expected, things have been getting worse since August. Despite everything, we are maintaining annual growth of 7.1% and we continue to believe that we will surpass last year’s record,” the vice president said. President of the Association of Metallurgical, Metalworking and Related Industries of Portugal (AIMMAP).
In 2022, the sector, which operates abroad under the Metal Portugal brand, sold goods abroad worth 23,080 million euros, up 16.1% compared to 2021. Last year it collected “as always seven of the best months and six records above 2 billion euros,” he recalled at the time.
This year, metallurgy and metalworking ended the first half of the year with a turnover abroad of 12,865 million euros, “the best semester ever” for this sector, which then grew by 11.6% compared to the first six months of 2022. In However, Rafael Campos Pereira already warned of the first signs of some slowdown in demand.
And if the numbers continued to grow in July, August brought a residual decline of less than 1%, and in September the problems became reality, with 8.6% less than in 2022. But it must also be taken into account, says that With a turnover abroad worth 2,034 million euros, September 2022 was “the fourth best monthly result ever in this industry and the best month of September ever”.
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The director therefore assumes that, although lower than last year, the current values - 1859 million in September – “remain good figures”. The forecast for the end of the year assumes cumulative growth of around 5 to 6%, which will bring the final values to more than 24 billion euros.
The wars in Ukraine and Israel and the rise in interest rates, mainly affecting the civil construction and automotive sectors in Germany, are issues that are “embarrassing” for Portuguese companies headquartered in that country. market. It is mainly the subsectors of building materials, metal constructions, components for the automotive industry and certain production technologies for these clusters that are suffering the most.
“Companies continue to resist, but they are not immune to these strong disruptions that are affecting global markets,” says Rafael Campos Pereira, who is, however, “confident that it will be possible to quickly reverse this bad moment.” ”.
For 2024, there are no predictions yet, as the association already plans to be present at “more than a dozen” international fairs, especially in the areas of components, technical parts and equipment, in addition to business missions and links to buyers’ associations. “We continue to work harder and harder to strengthen our markets,” he assures. The closest regions and markets with which we have the most cultural ties are “the ones we need to pay the most attention to” at this stage, AIMMAP says.
Ilídia Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
