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Portugal and Poland – a growing friendship

On October 24-28, the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (PPCC) organized its latest mission of Polish business representatives to Portugal. It was attended by five companies from the following industries: cosmetics, cryotherapy devices, defense industry and two Special Economic Zones: Wałbrzych and Kostrzyn-Słubice. More than 30 b2b meetings were organized at the headquarters of Portuguese companies. At the same time, two seminars were organized to promote investment opportunities in the Special Economic Zones – in Lisbon and Porto.

We are glad that Bell attended the Trade Mission to Portugal organized by the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to a well-organized agenda, which corresponded to our needs, we had a great opportunity to meet new partners and distributors. We were also able to explore this interesting market in which we see good potential to grow. We keep our fingers crossed for the ongoing trade negotiations and hope that our products will appear on the shelves soon,” said Dominika Kopcińska-Sural, Export Department, Bell Cosmetics who participated in the last mission organized by the PPCC.

Such multi-sector foreign economic missions to Portugal and Brazil are organized by the Warsaw-based PPCC several times a year. “As part of the missions, Polish enterprises with export or investment ambitions can count on a tailor-made agenda of b2b meetings with a maximum number of local partners, the care of PPCC experts during the entire stay, language and logistical assistance, and seminars on given markets. However, after completing the mission, there is also support in following up on the meetings held,” said Wojciech Baczyński, General Director at Polish Portuguese Chamber of Commerce.

The service is strongly focused on providing participants with individual b2b meetings with potential business partners, consistent with the given profile. Thanks to participation in the PPCC economic mission, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to establish pragmatic business contacts with important local partners. “Preparation for the mission, in turn, is organized according to a proven substantive model focused on the goals of each of the participating companies, individually,” adds Baczyński.

“We believe that the mutual involvement of the WSEZ and the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce will result in establishing new contacts and will permanently fit into the schedule of joint meetings that will increase the knowledge of entrepreneurs from both countries about the business environment and cooperation opportunities,” – said another participant of the mission, Katarzyna Prociak, Director of Sales and Business Development Department, “Invest-Park” Walbrzych Special Economic Zone.

Portugal and Poland have had established diplomatic relations since 1922, creating good cooperation between both countries, which is also helped by the openness of the EU market, which has enabled the abolition of all quantitative and non-tariff restrictions to both countries. 

Poland has doubled its exports to Portugal in the period of 2013 to 2019, reaching over EUR 1 billion in 2019. It has had a positive trade balance with Portugal, reaching a peak in 2019 of EUR 2 billion, according to Polish statistics. The services balance has traditionally been favorable to the Portuguese side.

Poland, in 2020, was already the tenth largest Portuguese client globally and twelfth largest supplier. Around 1640 Portuguese companies exported to Poland in 2019. Seen from the Polish side, Portugal is 28th client of Poland and 36th as a supplier. 

In terms of investment, Poland and Portugal have been strengthening their cooperation, with Poland being recognized as an attractive country for major investments and an important target market for Portuguese SMEs, which is shown by the amount of subsidiaries of Portuguese companies that are present in Poland (estimated number of 80). 

Portuguese companies are operating in the retail and service industry, services, real estate and property development industry, the energy sector (mainly renewable energy), the building industry, advisory and legal services, industrial sector, finance and banking, the food industry, IT, hotels, textiles, and the clothing industry, environmental protection and the medical industry. Data from the Polish National Bank estimate that the value of Portuguese investments reached EUR 1.2 billion in 2019. 

The PPCC estimates that Portuguese investors have created more than 110,000 jobs in Poland, with Jeronimo Martins Polska the second biggest Polish employer in Poland, only after Polish Post, creating more than 70,000 jobs. 

It is also important to mention significant examples of Polish investments in Portugal that accelerated especially after 2015, such as XTB (financial), Asseco (IT services), Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych (stemlab laboratories), R. Power (renewable energy) and Inglot (cosmetics). Data from the Polish National Bank estimate that the value of Polish investments in Portugal reached EUR 60 million in 2019. 

In terms of tourism Portugal had a record of tourism inflows of more than 250,000 Poles in 2019, while 60,000 Portuguese tourists visited Poland.

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