300px, Headquarters of the CA bank of Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde, and Esposende. A co-operative retail bank.">Esposende.html" ;"title="Vila do Conde, and Esposende">Vila do Conde, and Esposende. A co-operative retail bank. The economy of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal is driven by tourism (namely gambling, hotels and restaurants), manufacturing, construction, fishing, and agro-business. During the 2001 census, 1770 companies are headquartered in Póvoa de Varzim, of which 2.82% were of the primary sector, 33.73% of the secondary and 63.45% of the tertiary. Despite its weight in Greater Porto international trade is weak, in 2004 it represented 1.1% of departures and 0.9% of arrivals, its coverage rate of arrivals against departures suppressed the 100% mark.INE (2005), ''Grande Área Metropolitana do Porto — Porto Metropolitan Area'', Lisbon The activity rate had grown from 48% to 51.1% from 1991 to 2001,Relatório do Plano de Urbanização da Póvoa de Varzim
''(in Portuguese)'' — CMPV, Departamento de Gestão Urbanística e Ambiente but there were 3353 citizens unemployed in June 2006.

Fish industry

The fact that it is a seaside city has shaped Póvoa de Varzim's economy: the fishing industry, from the fishing vessels that put in each day to the canning industry and to the city's fish market, beach agriculture, seaweed-gathering for fertilizing fields, and tourism are the result of its geography. Tourism and the related industries are more relevant in Póvoa's economy these days, as fisheries have lost importance. Nevertheless, the mean value of fish landed in 2004, in its seaport, was almost three times that of

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

seaport and significantly higher in the average vessels' capacity. Its fishing productivity is also comparatively higher than the national average. ''A Poveira'' is a traditional Povoan canning factory and most of its production, 80 to 85%, is exported and deals with high-end quality brands, such as ''Minerva'', in canned sardines,

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

and

codfish Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not calle ...

, for MDC markets such as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Austria, Singapore and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and aims to triple the production to meet the demand. Other export market brands include: Poveira, D'Henry IV, and Ala-Arriba.

Farming and dairy industry

Póvoa de Varzim is part of the ancient Vinho Verde winemaking region. In the coast, the farm fields were developed. This technique increases agricultural yields by using large, rectangular depressions dug into sand dunes, with the spoil piled up into banks surrounding the depression. Grapes are cultivated on the banks to the south, east and west, and trees and reeds on the northern slope act as a windbreak against the prevailing northern wind. Garden crops are grown in the central depression. Production is still specialized in horticultural goods, but most of the were substituted by

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

s and a significant share of the production is exported to other Western European markets. The inland valley region is committed to milk production and the Agros corporation headquarters of

Lactogal Lactogal is a Portuguese food products company focused on dairy products, milk, fruit juice and mineral water. It is headquartered in Porto and is placed among the twenty largest agro-food European companies. It has major factories in Oliveira ...

, the largest dairy products and milk producer company in the Iberian Peninsula, is located in

Espaço Agros Espaço Agros (in English ''Agros Space'') is an Agros organization business park and headquarters located in a park, located in the Portuguese city of Póvoa de Varzim, with woods and ancient farming fields. The plan for the park intended to kee ...

and has several departments such as exhibition park and laboratories, and the largest agricultural project in northern Portugal.

Construction and other industries

Monte Adriano, the seventh largest construction company in Portugal, and the joint venture between the Royal Lankhorst Euronete and Quintas & Quintas, producer of deepwater mooring systems, are two large companies based in the city. The manufacturing industry is an important employer, mostly in the textile industry that has low productivity and income. These industries are located out of the city in Beiriz, Balasar, and Rates. Other employers include the blanket handicraft industry of Terroso and Laundos, and the wood industries of Rates. One of the initiatives of the municipality is the ''Parque Industrial de Laundos'' (Industrial Park of Laundos), in the city's outskirts, next to the A28 Motorway.

Renewable energy industry

Póvoa de Varzim has been noted internationally for its

Renewable energy industry The renewable-energy industry is the part of the energy industry focusing on new and appropriate renewable energy technologies. Investors worldwide have paid greater attention to this emerging industry in recent years. In many cases, this has tra ...

. The world's first commercial wave farm was located in its coast, at the Aguçadora Wave Park. The wave farm used three Pelamis P-750 machines with a capacity of 2.25 megawatts, enough to meet the average electricity demand of more than 1,500 Portuguese households. Energy self-sustainability was foreseen with the expansion of the wave park to 28 machines capable to produce 24 mW, supplying 250 thousand inhabitants. The project failed and was replaced by the windfloat project, a new prototype on offshore wind farms, from a distinct company, that is still operating. Energie, a company headquartered in Póvoa de Varzim, developed a thermodynamic solar system combining solar energy and a heat pump to generate energy even when it is night or overcast; the success of this technology internationally led the company to open in a large factory, that started operating in 2007.

Local economy

* civil construction: buildings, motorways * Construction materials * private hospitals * ERP software * Gambling, hotels and restaurants * rope making * textile industry / handicraft industry * lifts industry (headquarters) - Póvoa de Varzim/Vila do Conde/Esposende * Paper industry * Soft drinks * milk, dairy food (milk production; headquarters) - Póvoa de Varzim/Vila do Conde/Esposende * food processing * wine production * canning industry; fresh fish * horticulture

References