Galp and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly are the biggest Portuguese exporters to the US
Portuguese exports to the United States rose 1.5% in 2024, to 5.3 billion euros, with the country remaining the main destination for shipments outside the European Union.
Petrogal, a company owned by Galp, has overthrown the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly by topping the ranking of Portugal’s top 10 exporters to the United States last year. Data from INE, the Portuguese statistics institute, provided to ECO also reveal that there is a first in this ‘top’ compared to 2023: Browning Viana, owned by the Belgian group FN Herstal, a manufacturer of weapons and sporting goods.
Portuguese exports to the United States rose by 1.5% in 2024, in comparison to the previous year, to around 5.3 billion euros, maintaining its position as the main destination outside the European Union and fourth overall, with a weight of 6.7%.
In 2024, three pharmaceutical companies remained among the main companies in Portugal that sold products to the United States: the American company Eli Lilly Export, Hikma Farmacêutica and the Portuguese firm Hovione Farmacêutica. Their presence in the top 10 is not new, but the order has changed slightly compared to 2023.
Eli Lilly, known for its diabetes medicines, doesn’t have a production plant in Portugal, but is currently one of the country’s main exporters because it imports raw materials and, through an agreement with a local company, processes the product in Portugal, which is then exported as a finished product, while Hikma currently has four factories in the country.
In third place in the ranking is Continental Mabor (tyres), maintaining the same position as last year. The list also includes Repsol, Amorim Cork and General Electric Renewable, as well as newcomers Navigator and Browning Viana. As ECO tells us here, founded in 1973 and owned by Belgian company FN Herstal, Browning Viana (located in Alto Minho) is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hunting and sporting weapons.
Top exporting companies to the United States in 2024:
- Petrogal (2nd place in 2023)
- Eli Lilly (1st place in 2023)
- Continental Mabor (3rd place in 2023)
- Hikma (5th place in 2023)
- Hovione (4th place in 2023)
- Repsol (6th place in 2023)
- Amorim Cork (9th place in 2023)
- The Navigator Company
- Browning Viana
- General Electric Renewable (7th place in 2023)
Altice Labs, ranked eighth in 2023, and Metalogalva, ranked 10th previously, were left out.
