Portugal

Portugal ranks in the top third globally in the Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) ranking, yet lags behind key regional peers. The country’s business environment is clouded by a relatively heavy tax burden, elevated interest rates and rigid labour…

Retail volume sales of butter and spreads remained static in 2023. Demand for such products experienced an upturn during the pandemic, when people spent more time cooking and baking at home. Butter and spreads are particularly likely to be used at…

Strongly affected by the pandemic, cafés/bars recorded double-digit growth in 2023, surpassing pre-pandemic values. Inflation and the rising costs of coffee among producers, led to an increase in sales, not reflected in profitability. In fact, the…

Medical cannabis remains stagnant in Portugal. New medications have not been introduced in the market in the last couple of years, the prices of those available continue to be high by Portuguese standards, cannabis producers’ focus continues to be on…

Carbonates recorded a positive performance in both on-trade and off-trade volume and value sales in 2023. Boosted by the tourism industry, on-trade showed the best performance, while off-trade grew despite the declining purchasing power in the…

Cat food maintained retail volume and current value growth in Portugal in 2023, and this trend is expected to continue in 2024, with growth across both wet and dry cat food, and across all price segments. The cat population rose throughout the review…

With low levels of penetration in the country, charge cards continues to grow in 2023 as it recovers from its sharp drop in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, boosted by inflation and by the recovery of business, transaction value is…

Cheese saw modest growth in retail volume terms in 2023, in contrast to the flat performance of the previous year. While inflationary pressures, driven by surging energy and food prices, receded slightly, demand was constrained by a loss of…

After the decline registered in 2020 due to COVID-19 and successive lockdowns, childrenswear registered noticeable growth in 2021. Nevertheless, in 2022 and 2023, retail volume slowed down, lower than levels seen in men and womenswear, as parents…

Chocolate confectionery is managing to achieve positive volume growth in 2024, despite unit price hikes suppressing stronger sales. Indeed, chocolate confectionery has been strongly affected by considerable increases in the costs of raw ingredients,…