The year 2020 was globally marked by the strong negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy, which led to a strong contraction of the great majority of the branches of economic activity, determining in some cases an almost total stoppage. Also, in the manufacturing industries the impact was significant, with decreases of 7.2% in the Gross value added and 9.3% in the Gross operating surplus.

Thus, in 2020, the total sales of products and services in the manufacturing industries (divisions 10 to 33, 35 and 38 of CAE Rev.3) registered a nominal decrease of 10.6%, reaching EUR 84.2 billion (+2.7% and EUR 94.1 billion in 2019). The divisions that most contributed for this negative change were the Division 19 - Petroleum products (-30.8% in the sales of products and services in 2020; +0.4% in 2019) and the Division 29 - Manufacture of motor vehicles (-19.3%; +13.0% in 2019). Division 10 - Food Industries kept its preponderance in total sales and services, despite the slight decrease of 0.6% compared to the previous year (+3.2% in 2019), totalling EUR 11.9 billion (14.1% of total manufacturing industries).