Portugal registers lowest cereal production in decade: statistics
LISBON, July 23– Portugal produced a total of 189,200 tonnes of cereals in the 2020/ 2021 agricultural season, the lowest since 2012, the country’s National Statistics Institute reported on Friday. The poor harvest not only worsened the country’s domestic grain supply, but also increased the trade balance deficit for agricultural and agri-food products to…
LISBON, July 23 (Xinhua) — Portugal produced a total of 189,200 tonnes of cereals in the 2020/2021 agricultural season, the lowest since 2012, the country’s National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on Friday.
The poor harvest not only worsened the country’s domestic grain supply, but also increased the trade balance deficit for agricultural and agri-food products to 3.845 billion euros (3.908 billion U.S. dollars), figures showed.
Cereal imports mainly contributed to the deficit increase. The country imported cereals worth 154.6 million euros (157.7 million dollars) in the 2020/2021 season, compared to the previous agricultural year.
“The decrease in production and exports and the maintenance of imports further worsened the degree of self-sufficiency of cereals (except rice),” the INE said in a note published on its website.
However, Portugal produced a record 2.29 million hectoliters of olive oil in the past season, an increase of 49 percent annually, mainly due to favorable weather conditions and the increase of artificial irrigation.
Wine production also increased by 14.7 percent, reaching 7.2 million hectoliters, higher than the annual average of 6.4 million hectoliters during the past five years. (1 euro= 1.02 U.S.dollars) Enditem