Portugal's natural resources

Portugal is the world’s top producer of cork. It also produces pine and eucalyptus woods and resins. It has a marked presence in the fishing industry and ranks in the top of the world's producers of wines, olives and olive oil, and tomato products. It trades mostly with its European neighbors, particularly its closest neighbor, Spain, as well as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. It also has major exports to the United States and Angola. Portugal is one of the leading European sources for copper.

The Country

Portugal is located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, of which it occupies about 16 percent and which it shares with Spain. It is bordered by Spain to the east and north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south, on which it has 1,793 kilometers of coastline. It includes two autonomous island chains, the Azores (composed of nine islands) and the Madeira Islands (including two inhabited and several other uninhabited islands), which allow Portugal to have a strategic presence in the western sea around the Strait of Gibraltar. In total area, Portugal is slightly smaller than the state of Indiana. It has a temperate maritime climate, with hotter and drier in the rolling plains of the south, and cooler, rainier weather in the mountainous north. It is divided almost in half into these two regions by the Tagus River. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as of 2024, it had over 10 million inhabitants. Portuguese now ranks as the third most spoken European language in the world and ranks as sixth in the world in number of native speakers (due primarily to the large population of Portugal’s former colony, Brazil). Though Portugal was once one of the world’s richest countries, it failed to use its wealth to develop infrastructure such as a superior educational system, and it now ranks as one of the poorest countries in the European Union because of its poor resource management. However, in 2023, it ranked forty-second on the Human Development Index.

Cork

Portugal is the world leader in cork production, producing about one-half of the world’s cork. Forests of various types, including pine and eucalyptus, cover about 34 percent of the country; according to the Portuguese Cork Association, there are about 730,000 hectares of cork oak. The western Mediterranean region, and Portugal in particular, is a suitable habitat for the cork oaks with rainfall distributed nearly evenly throughout the year, mild winters, short summers, and moist soils. Most of the cork in Portugal grows in the central and southern regions, with the highest quality cork coming from the Algarve and Alentejo areas. Though cork is used for a variety of purposes, such as floats, shoe soles, paper, bath or table mats, or packing material, it became particularly important when glass bottles were invented. Cork is impervious to gases and liquids, and thus is a perfect material for sealing glass bottles. The Portuguese Cork Association reported that the cork industry employs over eight thousand workers at over six hundred companies, producing about forty million cork stoppers each day. This industry is considered to be environmentally friendly, as cork comes from the bark of the cork oak, and Portuguese law limits bark removal to once every nine years to protect the production of this valuable resource. A cork oak tree can survive for more than 150 years, and each cork tree regrows its bark layer once it has been stripped, making cork an extremely renewable resource. Cork oak forests also prevent soil erosion and house many vulnerable species, including the world’s most endangered big cat, the Iberian lynx.

Fish

Portugal has a long coastline along the Atlantic Ocean in a temperate zone, which has helped the country develop its long history in the fishing industry. It has one of the highest fish rates per capita in the world. Along the Portuguese coast, archeologists have found ruins of Roman fish processing centers. About seventy varieties of fish—including anchovies, cod, crustaceans, hake, mackerel, mollusks, sardines, and tuna—caught off the coast provide products that are exported all over the world from fishing ports and processing centers such as Lisbon, Leixões, Peniche, Setúbal, Matozinhos, Olhão, and Portimão. In addition to a large industrial fishing sector, many Portuguese fishermen practice artisanal fishing, or fishing in the old style with nets. Portuguese fishers and their trade unions have special rights to 1.7 million square kilometers of fishing territory called Portugal’s “exclusive economic zone,” which is one of the largest in the European Union. The Portuguese government helps Portuguese fisherman improve fishing vessels, adding and updating boats with automated electronic work, navigation, and fish detection systems to help fishermen compete with fish production in other European countries such as Norway and Denmark, where fewer fishermen and boats catch more fish than Portugal with updated equipment and processing procedures.

Metals and Minerals

Portugal is a major source of metals and minerals, particularly for its European Union neighbors. It is one of Europe’s leading producers of copper. In 2021, according to the World Population Review, Portugal produced 39,443 metric tons metric tons of copper content. In 2023, Portugal was one of the world's largest producers of lithium, producing 380 metric tons during that year. Most of its lithium is mined in the Gonçalo region, but major lithium deposits also exist in the Barroso and Alvor mountain areas. Portugal also produces tin and tungsten; most of its tungsten production is exported to other countries. The Panasqueira mine located in the Estrela Mountains is one of the world’s largest producers of tungsten outside of China. This mine gained Portugal some notoriety during World War II because it allowed tungsten to be exported to both Axis and Allied countries. Portugal also has large uranium reserves, particularly in the Alto Alentejo area, where eight shallow uranium deposits have been discovered.

Olive Oil

Portugal’s main edible crop from trees is olives, and the country is one of the major producers and exporters of olives and olive oil. Its history of growing and trading olives and olive oils dates to the days when Portugal was an important point for ancient trade routes through Europe. Evidence of olive oil production in Roman times is found in Portugal, and olives and olive oil are still staples of Portuguese cooking. The Alentejo area has a conducive to growing olive trees, with soils rich in calcium and potassium, which increase olive production. Portuguese olive oil is known for its golden color and sweet flavor with hints of apple and fig, and some of Portugal’s native olive oils are protected by origin regulations. Producers of Portuguese olive oil who use the “protected denomination of origin” label must use only olives from certain areas and follow a strict set of rules about the production of the oils. One special type of olive oil particular to Portugal and specific to the Moura region and protected under these origin regulations is called “Azeite de Moura.” This olive oil has low acidity, a pleasant greenish-yellow color, and a superior fruity odor and taste. Other regions where olive oil is produced include Norte Alentejano, the upper Douro, and the Trás-os-Montes.

Tomato Products

Portugal is one of the world’s largest exporters of tomato paste, producing around 1.56 million metric tons of tomatoes in 2021. However, in 2024, the country saw a significant decline in exports of tomato paste. According to Tomato News, it exported about 218,000 tons of tomato paste in 2023, which was 21 percent lower than the previous year. As of 2024, Portugal's tomato sauce exports remained high.

Tomatoes are grown mainly northwest of Lisbon, with a large percentage of the tomato crop produced in the Ribatejo region. Another major tomato production region is Alentejo in the southwest. The wide day-to-night temperature variations in these regions enhance the tomato’s color, and the climate of these regions, with spring rains and very dry summers, enhance production. Though most of the tomatoes were previously grown on family farms, the industry moved increasingly toward mechanization and larger commercial farms.

Wine

Portugal is one of the world’s largest producers of wine. Winemaking was introduced in this region by ancient people such as the Carthaginians, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans. Portugal produces a great variety of wines throughout the country, with nearly fifty wine regions producing wines ranging from green wines to aged wines and to dessert wines such as muscatel and port, which is wine fortified with brandy spirits and perhaps Portugal’s most famous. Port is often aged up to fifteen years and lasts for decades because of its high alcohol content. It comes in many varieties, such as vintage, single quinta, late-bottled, tawny, white, or ruby. Portugal has about 285 native breeds of grapes. Portugal’s rosé wines, such as Mateus, are well-known outside the country, while its white and red table wines are best known within Portugal, though their reputation has increased worldwide. These wines have won many regional and international awards in recent years.

Madeira is made on the Madeira Islands and enjoys a cultural heritage status: Only wines made on these islands are entitled to the name “Madeira.” Madeira is similar to port in that it is also a wine that is fortified with spirits. It is also an unusual wine in that it is heated for about six months during its ripening phase. Because of this heating, the wine lasts a long time, often decades. Wine lore says that this heating was added to the wine’s processing when it was discovered that shipping oak barrels of wine throughout the hot summer months improved the wine’s flavor. The most important wine producing areas are in the northern valleys, such as Rio Douro, Rio Mondego, and Rio Lima, but vineyards are also located in the Algarve and the Setúbal Peninsula. In some areas of the country, wine is still made traditionally: Grapes are harvested by hand and the juice is extracted from the grapes in vats where people stomp on them.

Other Resources

Portugal has a variety of other mineral resources and materials such as anthracite, beryl, granite, lignite, marble, slate, feldspar, pyrites, salt rock, talc, and zinc. Much of Portugal’s land is involved in agriculture, and it exports a large percentage of its agricultural products, including cattle and dairy products, which are produced mostly on the northwest coast. However, its agricultural productivity compares unfavorably to the rest of Europe. Wheat is Portugal’s leading grain crop, followed by corn and rice.

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