Évora, Portugal, May 26, 2026 (Lusa) – Portugal has undergone a profound transformation in nut production over the last decade, especially in almonds, which account for 75% of exports and have made the country the second-largest European producer and the fifth-largest globally.
The chair of Portugal Nuts (the national dried fruit and nut association), Tiago Costa, released this data on Tuesday morning during the fifth edition of the congress that the association promotes annually, which takes place at a hotel in Évora throughout the day.
He said the country was currently “the second-largest almond producer in Europe” and is firmly integrated “in the world’s top five.”
Meanwhile, regarding walnuts, Portugal has also reached “the position of fifth-largest producer in Europe” and secured “a place in the top 15 worldwide.”
The president of Portugal Nuts also said that in recent years, in Portugal, “the planted area doubled, production soared, and exports exceeded €150 million.”
Tiago Costa cited the latest 2025 data from Statistics Portugal (INE) and specified that the nut sector reached €156 million in exports.
“Almonds represent around 75%” of these exports, and this nut “has multiplied its export value by three since 2020”, while “walnuts managed to increase their exports by 50% from 2024 to 2025,” he added.
“These figures are truly relevant and help the trade balance, which becomes amply positive for the country,” Tiago Costa said.
He added that “this extraordinary growth did not happen by chance,” but results from the heavy investment of producers.
The nut sector has become “absolutely strategic for Portugal’s agriculture”, according to the president of Portugal Nuts, and accounts for 6% of national plant product exports.
Tiago Costa told Lusa on the sidelines of the fifth Portugal Nuts Congress, which brings together association members, producers, technicians, researchers, and other sector agents, that almond exports rose from €30 million in 2020 to €115 million in 2025.
The association released INE data showing that this amounts to roughly €115 million, corresponding to the sale of 31,000 tonnes of almonds in foreign markets, representing an increase of more than 16% in value (+€15.21 million) compared to 2024.
Portugal Nuts said that the 50% rise in walnut exports meant they grew from €1.1 million in 2024 to €3.3 million in 2025, with foreign sales exceeding 900 tonnes.
“The export of shelled almonds exceeded the export of unshelled almonds for the first time, now representing 65% of the almond export value, reflecting a higher valuation of the product in the international market,” the association stated.
Portugal suffered a drop of around 1,000 hectares in the area planted with nuts, as Lusa reported on Tuesday.
Some producers uprooted almond orchards and opted for other crops due to pests or installation errors, the executive director of Portugal Nuts, Nuno Russo, said.
The president of the association said on Tuesday that after “very strong growth,” it stabilised and even shrank, but this “does not translate into a loss of speed” for the sector, which “still has a lot to add more value to the product.”
RRL/LYT // ADB.
Lusa
