A delegation of Portuguese packaging companies from the North and Centre of the country will be in Oslo from 28 September to 1 October. The prospecting trip is organised by Nerlei-CCI, the Leiria region’s business association and chamber of commerce, together with AEB CCI, the Braga business association, under a project called SustainablePackPT.
In a statement reported by Jornal de Leiria on 23 September, Nerlei-CCI said the goal is to “strengthen the bet” of the northern and central Portuguese packaging sector on the Nordic market, which it described as known for innovation, sustainability and advanced packaging solutions. The group will meet chambers of commerce, business associations and other local bodies in Oslo to identify cooperation opportunities and “build bridges” with Norwegian companies.
The third Nordic stop
Oslo is not the programme’s first Nordic market. SustainablePackPT has already run promotion actions in Denmark and Sweden, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada. In total the project plans external promotion in seven markets in Europe and the Americas across 2025 and 2026, so three of the seven are Nordic.
The project is funded by Portugal 2030 through the Innovation and Digital Transition Programme (PITD), with a budget of €355,629.88, of which €302,285.40 comes from the European Regional Development Fund. That is a modest budget: this is a door-opening mission, not a trade fair stand.
What Norway already buys from Portugal
Statistics Norway (SSB) published August trade data on 15 September. Norway imported goods worth NOK 3.08 billion from Portugal in January–August 2026, roughly €280 million at August exchange rates and 8.1% more than in the same months of 2025. Full-year 2025 imports were NOK 4.23 billion.
Packaging has no product code of its own in the trade statistics, so the closest proxies are the materials it is made of. In January–August, Norway’s imports from Portugal were:
| SSB product group (SITC) | Jan–Aug 2025 | Jan–Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 58 – Plastics in non-primary forms (film, sheet, tubes) | NOK 63.2m | NOK 65.9m | +4.2% |
| 64 – Paper, paperboard and articles thereof | NOK 16.3m | NOK 18.0m | +10.1% |
| 66 – Non-metallic mineral manufactures (incl. glass) | NOK 122.3m | NOK 110.4m | −9.7% |
| 57 – Plastics in primary forms | NOK 2.1m | NOK 4.0m | +86.3% |
| All goods | NOK 2,848m | NOK 3,078m | +8.1% |
Source: Statistics Norway, table 08806, NorthSouth HQ calculations. The numbers are small: plastics and paper together are about 3% of what Norway buys from Portugal. Much Portuguese packaging also reaches Norway inside other products — wine bottles, canned fish, cork — and is not counted as packaging at all.
Why this matters for the corridor
Leiria and Marinha Grande are Portugal’s centre for moulds and plastics, and Braga’s association speaks for a large Minho manufacturing base. Norway is a small market, but a wealthy one, and Nerlei-CCI is pitching Portuguese packaging on sustainability, the quality it says Norwegian buyers value. The mission to Oslo follows the same pattern as the furniture sector’s first Norway trip earlier this month: Portuguese industries that already sell to Denmark and Sweden are now adding Norway. The test is whether the meetings in Oslo turn into named Norwegian customers or distributors. NorthSouth HQ will follow up.