Portuguese natural stone is selling more in Sweden this year. Swedish imports of stone from Portugal across the four main customs headings — marble and travertine blocks, granite blocks, setts and flagstones, and worked building stone — reached SEK 39.3 million (about €3.6 million) in January–August 2026, up 65% from SEK 23.7 million a year earlier, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB) monthly trade data analysed by NorthSouth HQ. Sweden’s imports of the same products from all countries grew by less than 4%, to SEK 236.3 million.
That lifts Portugal’s share of Swedish stone imports from 10.4% to 16.6% and makes it the second-largest supplier overall, just behind Denmark (SEK 40.7 million) and ahead of China (SEK 33.1 million), Türkiye (SEK 21.5 million), Poland (SEK 18.0 million) and Norway (SEK 16.4 million).
The timing fits a promotional push. On 30 October the Swedish trade title Svensk Byggtidning ran a piece headlined “Portugisisk natursten stärker sin ställning på den designorienterade svenska marknaden” (Portuguese natural stone strengthens its position on the design-oriented Swedish market). The Portuguese industry association ANIET is running an international campaign, “Portuguese Stone – The Natural Path”, co-financed by COMPETE 2030, Portugal 2030 and the EU, to promote Portuguese marble, limestone and granite to architects and specifiers abroad.
First in four of five product lines
Broken down by customs heading, Portugal is Sweden’s largest supplier this year in four of the five lines NorthSouth HQ tracked:
| Product (CN code) | From Portugal, Jan–Aug 2026 | Jan–Aug 2025 | Portugal’s rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marble and travertine, crude or cut into blocks (2515) | SEK 7.7m | SEK 0.2m | 1st (Estonia 2nd, SEK 3.2m) |
| Granite and other building stone, crude or cut into blocks (2516) | SEK 5.5m | SEK 1.9m | 1st (Poland 2nd, SEK 5.4m) |
| Setts, curbstones and flagstones (6801) | SEK 12.7m | SEK 9.5m | 1st (Denmark 2nd, SEK 11.8m) |
| Worked monumental and building stone (6802) | SEK 13.4m | SEK 12.2m | 4th (Denmark, Türkiye, China ahead) |
| of which granite, simply cut or sawn, flat surface (6802 23) | SEK 12.1m | SEK 11.0m | 1st (Poland 2nd, SEK 11.2m) |
Source: Statistics Sweden (SCB), table ImpTotalKNMan, imports by CN commodity and trading partner, monthly, 2026 data preliminary. Rankings among all trading partners.
The marble figure is lumpy. Almost all of it arrived in two months — SEK 1.4 million in April and SEK 6.2 million in July — for a total of 224 tonnes, against 28 tonnes in the same period of 2025. One or two projects, or one importer restocking, can move this line on their own. The paving line is steadier: Portugal shipped setts and flagstones to Sweden in every month from January to July. Its volume actually fell, from 4,293 to 3,441 tonnes, while its value rose by a third, which points to higher-value stone or higher prices.
Blocks and paving, not finished design pieces
The SCB data also show what kind of stone Sweden buys from Portugal, and it is not mainly the finished, polished product that a design-market story suggests. Imports of polished or otherwise further-worked granite and calcareous stone from Portugal (CN 6802 92 and 6802 93) were SEK 18.6 million in 2023 and SEK 11.6 million in 2024. They fell to SEK 0.2 million in 2025 and were again SEK 0.2 million in January–August 2026. Today’s trade is in blocks, sawn slabs and paving, much of which is presumably finished or installed by Swedish stone companies.
This year’s gain is also a partial recovery. Across the four headings, Sweden bought SEK 107.1 million of Portuguese stone in 2023, SEK 70.4 million in 2024 and SEK 43.7 million in 2025; most of the decline came from setts and flagstones, which fell from SEK 66.5 million to SEK 16.2 million over those two years. The first eight months of 2026 already equal 90% of the whole of 2025.
Two caveats apply. SCB records imports by trading partner, so Denmark’s lead may partly reflect stone quarried elsewhere and shipped through Danish wholesalers; and Portuguese stone that reaches Sweden via another EU country is counted under that country, not Portugal. The 2026 monthly figures are preliminary.
Why it matters for the corridor
For Portuguese quarry and processing companies, mostly in the Alentejo marble triangle around Estremoz, Borba and Vila Viçosa and the granite districts of the north, Sweden is a small market. But it is one where Portugal now leads in raw and semi-finished stone at a time when Chinese and Turkish suppliers are flat. The gap is at the top of the value chain: Portuguese firms have all but stopped selling polished, finished stone to Sweden. A campaign aimed at Swedish architects and designers is an attempt to win back that higher-margin work, and Portugal’s position in blocks and paving gives it a base to build from.
Sources: Statistics Sweden (SCB) Statistical Database, Imports of goods by CN commodity group and trading partner, monthly (ImpTotalKNMan, updated 27 October 2026), NorthSouth HQ analysis; ECB euro reference rates (January–August 2026 monthly averages, about SEK 10.85 per euro); Svensk Byggtidning, 30 October 2026 (headline); ANIET, “Portuguese Stone – The Natural Path” campaign material published by TradeArabia.