01Key Takeaways
- Portugal imported $113.69 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 2.0% from $116.01 billion in 2022, pulling back slightly from a five-year peak.
- Spain supplied 33.8% of imports ($38.43 billion), more than the next two partners combined, an even higher concentration than on the export side of Portuguese trade.
- Vehicles topped import categories at 11.9% ($13.51 billion), narrowly ahead of mineral fuels at 11.7% ($13.29 billion), the same category that also leads Portuguese exports.
- Fish and crustaceans ranked among Portugal's top import categories despite the country's strong fishing tradition, reflecting its reliance on imported cod.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $89.5B | $77.8B | $98.3B | $116.0B | $113.7B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | $38.4B | 33.8% |
| 2 | Germany | $13.0B | 11.4% |
| 3 | France | $7.9B | 6.9% |
| 4 | Netherlands | $6.2B | 5.5% |
| 5 | Italy | $5.7B | 5.0% |
| 6 | China | $5.6B | 5.0% |
| 7 | Brazil | $4.0B | 3.5% |
| 8 | Belgium | $3.5B | 3.1% |
| 9 | United States | $2.4B | 2.1% |
| 10 | Poland | $2.2B | 1.9% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $13.5B | 11.9% |
| 2 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $13.3B | 11.7% |
| 3 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $11.1B | 9.8% |
| 4 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $9.5B | 8.4% |
| 5 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $5.1B | 4.5% |
| 6 | Pharmaceutical Products | $3.8B | 3.3% |
| 7 | Iron and Steel | $3.8B | 3.3% |
| 8 | Organic Chemicals | $3.0B | 2.7% |
| 9 | Fish and Crustaceans, Molluscs and other Aquatic Invertebrates | $2.4B | 2.1% |
| 10 | Optical, Photographic, Cinematographic, Measuring, Checking, Precision, Medical or Surgical Instruments and Apparatus; Parts and Accessories thereof | $2.4B | 2.1% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Imports Pulled Back Slightly After a 2022 Peak
Portugal imported $113.69 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 2.0% from $116.01 billion in 2022. That 2022 total was the high point of the past five years, and the modest pullback that followed left the total still well above every earlier year in this dataset.
Imports stood at $89.54 billion in 2019, then fell to $77.83 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade. Recovery followed quickly. The total climbed to $98.34 billion in 2021 and jumped further to $116.01 billion in 2022, before easing back to $113.69 billion in 2023. That five-year shape, a sharp pandemic dip followed by strong recovery and a small pullback from a 2022 peak, closely tracks the export side of Portuguese trade, covered in the companion data for this country. A 2.0% pullback after a peak year like this one is modest by the standards of this dataset. It reads more like a natural cooling-off point than any sign of underlying weakness in Portugal's economy.
Spain Supplies a Third of Portugal's Imports
Spain supplied 33.8% of Portugal's imports in 2023, worth $38.43 billion, more than the next two partners on this list combined. That concentration is even higher than on the export side, where Spain buys 25.7% of what Portugal sells abroad, covered in the companion export data for this country. Germany ranked second at 11.4% ($12.97 billion), and France followed at 6.9% ($7.88 billion). Together, those three made up 52.1% of total import value.
The Netherlands added 5.5% ($6.22 billion), and Italy contributed 5.0% ($5.70 billion). China added a nearly identical 5.0% ($5.64 billion), and Brazil, a former Portuguese colony with deep trade ties to Portugal, contributed 3.5% ($3.97 billion). Belgium added 3.1% ($3.53 billion), and the United States contributed 2.1% ($2.44 billion). Poland closed out the top ten at 1.9% ($2.16 billion).
Spain's share on the import side outweighs even its already dominant position among Portugal's export partners. Shared geography cuts both ways. Goods move cheaply and quickly across the Iberian Peninsula in either direction, and that logistics advantage shows up more strongly here than on almost any other partner list in this dataset. Very few countries covered here source more than a third of their entire import bill from a single neighbor, which makes Portugal's relationship with Spain one of the more concentrated bilateral trade links in this dataset.
Vehicles and Fuel Top an Import List That Mirrors Portugal's Exports
Vehicles led every import category in 2023, worth $13.51 billion, or 11.9% of the total, narrowly ahead of mineral fuels at 11.7% ($13.29 billion). Vehicles is the same category that also tops Portugal's export list, covered in the companion export data for this country, where a single Volkswagen assembly plant anchors much of that export figure. Electrical machinery contributed 9.8% ($11.10 billion), and machinery and mechanical appliances added 8.4% ($9.52 billion).
Plastics added 4.5% ($5.09 billion), and pharmaceutical products contributed 3.3% ($3.80 billion). Iron and steel added a nearly identical 3.3% ($3.78 billion), and organic chemicals contributed 2.7% ($3.05 billion). Fish and crustaceans added 2.1% ($2.40 billion), a category that stands out given Portugal's long fishing tradition. Portugal does not catch cod itself, yet the country consumes over 100,000 tons of salted, dried cod a year, most of it imported from Norway, the fish behind bacalhau, Portugal's best-known national dish. Optical, photographic and measuring instruments closed out the top ten at a nearly identical 2.1% ($2.40 billion).
The overlap with vehicles, machinery and electronics again describes an economy positioned mid-chain, importing components and partly finished goods before exporting a more finished product, the same pattern visible in the companion export data. Fish stands apart from that pattern entirely, a reminder that even a country famous for one particular food product can still depend heavily on imports to supply it. National food traditions do not always track what a country's own land or waters can actually produce, and Portugal's relationship with cod is a particularly clean example of that gap.
Taken together, Portugal's 2023 import data closely mirrors its export profile in product mix, with Spain playing an even larger role as a supplier than as a customer, and cod imports quietly underpinning one of the country's most iconic culinary traditions.