Sales to Angola by Portuguese companies fell nearly 34 percent in 2015, or 1 billion euros, which meant that the Angolan market fell from fourth to sixth place in the ranking of biggest export destinations, Portuguese daily newspaper Público reported, citing data from the National Statistics Institute (INE).

INE data showed that sales to Angola saw a contraction of 1.074 million euros (-33.8 percent) between 2014 and 2015, because of the crisis in the African country due to the low price of oil, on which it depends for its revenue.

Last year, sales of Portuguese products to Angola totalled 2.102 billion euros, the lowest level in five years, with machinery as the most affected sector accounting for a decline of 303 million euros or about 28 percent of the total downturn.

The most recent data from INE showed that between January and September last year there were 3,605 Portuguese companies whose sole export market was Angola, which represents almost 1,000 fewer companies compared to the same period of 2014. (macauhub/AO/PT)