458 business opportunities for Catalan firms in 100 countries identified

The life sciences, equipment, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, sustainability and energy, and digital industries are where most opportunities lie for Catalan businesses abroad.

This is one of the main conclusions of a study by the government agency, Catalonia Trade & Investment (ACCIÓ), published on Monday.

The organization has spotted 458 business opportunities across more than a hundred countries in the world.

Around 20% of these new opportunities have arisen due to Covid-19, linked to sectors such as e-commerce, telemedicine and online teaching.

Life sciences entails health and medical equipment, pharma and biotechnology. Meanwhile, sectors such as industry 4.0 and 3D printing fall under the equipment category.

The paper also identifies the main areas where it is a good time to invest, with Asia topping the ranking.

ACCIÓ lists 135 opportunities in the world's largest continent, with China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam as the main hubs.

In Europe, 133 have been identified, with Russia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK seen as the places with the most opportunities.

As for Africa, third in the continents ranking with 69 opportunities, Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia are named as the ones to invest in.

North America (66), South America (46) and Oceania (10) are places with less opportunities for Catalan firms according to ACCIÓ.

Catalan exports affected by pandemic

So far the pandemic has been a catastrophe for Catalan exports, which had been on the rise for the past nine consecutive years, reaching an all-time high of 73.8 billion euros in 2019. 

This trend will be interrupted in 2020. In a year marked by the pandemic, Catalonia exported products worth €47.367 billion from January to September (the most recent available figures), 14.1% less than the same period last year.