Summary
Domestic Material Consumption of materials decreased 11.7% in 2013. This decrease was determined by the contraction of economic activity and especially the change in its structure, persisting the loss of relative importance of industries with more intensive use of materials, in particular construction. The steeper decline in Domestic Material Consumption compared to GDP (-1.4% in real terms), led to an increase in productivity associated with the use of materials in 2013 (+11.7%), keeping the increasing trend since 2009. Still, in 2013 Portugal has the eighth lowest resource productivity in EU.