In 2020, Port of Lisbon registered a total of 4,656,555 tons (unloading 3,496,261 tons, and loading 1,169,294 tons) in the handling of Solid Bulks, with emphasis on products for agri-food production, positioning the Port of Lisbon as the national leader in this segment.
Lídia Sequeira, Port of Lisbon’s President, says that “during the Pandemic, the solids bulk performance, with a decisive impact on the Portuguese food supply, reveals the strategic importance of the Port of Lisbon and its leadership in the national's ports panorama in the agri-food sector. ”
Despite of the slight drop of 5%, compared to the same period of 2019, some types of bulk in the agri-food sector, such as barley, malt and soy have grown significantly, with the latter reaching values never reached in the last few 10 years.
• Soy traffic, on imports, recorded an increase of 10% compared to 2019, being the fifth best record in the last 21 years and the best in the last decade. Soy is imported, mostly from Brazil and the United States and is destined for use in soy oil for human consumption, flour and bagasse for animal feed and production of Biodiesel, in two facilities located in the port of Lisbon, in Palença and in Alhandra.
• Also noteworthy are the great results, in imports, in the handling of Barley (+ 33%) and, in exports, of Malt (+ 125%), Barley being used in the manufacture of beer and still used in animal feed as fodder, while Malt's main destination is the brewery of the Central de Cervejas in Nigeria. Barley has the United Kingdom and France as the origin's countries.
• Last year Colza also registered a growth of + 19% compared to 2019. Colza's main uses are for the biodiesel production and animal feed, being Ukraine the origin country.
• Clinker, used to obtain cement, was another product that, in the Solid Bulk segment, and in exports, registered a positive evolution of + 22%, with its main destinations being Colombia and countries on the West African coast.