In a statement, the ATP’s managing director, Paulo Vaz, cites data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) that show that exports of textiles and clothing in June were down 12.7% on the same month of 2018, to €2.684 billion.

According to the association, the products that contributed the most to the reduction were knitwear, of which in the first half €33 million or 2.9% less was exported.

In the same period, exports of home textiles were down 4.9% on the year and cotton raw materials, including yarn and fabrics, down 11.7%.

In contrast, pastes, felts and ropework articles saw strong year-on-year growth, with first-half exports up 9.7% on the year, followed by fabric clothing and accessories up 2.6%.

In the period, Portugal had a net surplus of €491 million, with exports worth 122% of imports.

According to the INE data, Portugal’s overall exports in June were down 8.3% and imports down 4.1% on the same month of 2018, in part reflecting the smaller number of working days in the period.