0 Comércio Externo Corticeiro na Peninsula Ibérica no Período de 1930 a 1974 - Uma Perspectiva Comparada

The aim of this paper is to undertake a comparative analysis of the particular features of the foreign trade in cork products from Portugal and Spain between 1930 and 1974. In the first part, we analyse the main structural alterations that occurred in the foreign trade in cork products from the two countries. This analysis highlights the Spanish loss of leadership in the area of cork exports, which passed to Portuguese producers after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Next we explain the reasons for this change, beginning with a series of factors that we consider to be the most relevant for the period under study. Because of the State's heavy involvement in the economy, a feature that was inherent in the political regimes of Salazar and Franco, questions relating to the institutional framework of the cork sector appear to be particularly pertinent, especially matters relating to the industrial, commercial and foreign exchange policies that were implemented in the two countries. Furthermore, in relation to the institutional question, we highlight the processes leading to the opening up of the two economies to the outside world during the period under study- namely their links with EFTA and the EEC. Such changes were all the more important because the foreign markets represented the preferential destination for the two countries' cork production. In the last part of this work, consideration of the production costs also shows itself to have been a decisive factor in determining the capacity to compete in foreign markets, where the two Iberian countries were faced with competition both from other cork-producing countries and from substitute products.