The association said that €190 million (+11.5%) was shipped to countries outside the European Union, particularly the USA (+18%), Angola (+72.4%) and South Korea (+81.6%).

Inside Europe, there was a 3.2% increase, mainly because of growth in exports to Italy (+26.6%), Holland (+12.7%), Germany (+4.2%), France (+4.1%) and Spain (+2%).

The ANIVEC chairman, César Araújo, said the good news showed the importance of diversified markets and that Portugal was managing to compete well even in demanding markets such as Italy.