VALORA, S.A.
Valora, S.A. is a banknote printing company which is fully owned by the Banco de Portugal. It has operated at the Banco de Portugal’s premises in Carregado since 1999, the year it started production.
Valora produces the share of euro banknotes allocated to the Banco de Portugal.
Within the Eurosystem, production of euro banknotes is decentralised: each national central bank is responsible for the annual production of one or more denominations, either for internal issue or to distribute among other central banks. This production can be carried out using in-house printing works, such as Valora, or through private printing works.
Euro banknotes produced by Valora are easily identifiable by their serial number, which always starts with ‘M’.
Banknote production at Valora complies with strict standards in terms of quality, environment, occupational health and safety, and the physical security of the process and product produced, namely those standards defined by the European Central Bank for the production of euro banknotes. The scope of Valora’s integrated management system is the production of banknotes and is certified according to the international standards for quality, the environment and occupational health and safety, respectively Standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. At this moment, Standard ISO 37001, the anti-bribery management system, is being implemented and certification is expected by July 2022.
Valora does not produce metal coins. In Portugal, coins are minted by the Portuguese Mint and Official Printing Office (Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda), but are put into circulation by the Banco de Portugal.
With the aim of maximising installed productive capacity and increasing efficiency levels, Valora also produces non-euro banknotes for export. Between 2017 and 2020, about 437 million banknotes were produced. This strategic orientation enabled Valora to reach a total volume of 496.9 million euro and non-euro banknotes in 2020 and the same productivity level as private printing works.
Agreement between the Banco de Portugal and the central banks of Belgium and Austria
To increase efficiency in the production of euro banknotes, national central banks with in-house printing works have established partnerships. This is the case with the Banco de Portugal, which, since 2017, has maintained a cooperation agreement with the Banque National de Belgique (BNB) and the Oesterriechische Nationalbank (OeNB).
This groundbreaking agreement within the Eurosystem provides for the production quotas allocated to Belgium, Portugal and Austria to be merged and distributed equally between the Banco de Portugal and the OeNB and produced by Valora and the OeBS respectively.
Close collaboration between the three central banks in the joint production of euro banknotes prevents duplication of work, avoids disruption of production due to unforeseen situations, allows economies of scale, promotes the exchange of experience and good practice, and safeguards and consolidates specialised knowledge restricted to a stable group of professionals.
Production allocated to Banco de Portugal (millions of banknotes)*
Year | Denomination | Series | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
2006 | 20 | 1 | 213.6 |
2007 | 20 | 1 | 187.9 |
2008 | 5 | 1 | 192.1 |
2009 | 20 | 1 | 287.7 |
2010 | 5 | 1 | 229.4 |
2011 | 10 | 1 | 157.9 |
2012 | 10 | 1 | 239.0 |
2013 | 20 | 1 | 215.2 |
2014 | 20 | 1 | 194.0 |
20 | 2 | 44.1 | |
50 | 2 | 20.0 | |
2015 | 5 | 2 | 77.4 |
50 | 2 | 77.7 | |
2016 | 50 | 2 | 120.3 |
2017 | 20 | 2 | 144.0 |
2018 | 20 | 2 | 118.1 |
2019 | 5 | 2 | 131.3 |
2020 | 5 | 2 | 335.5 |
2021 | 5 | 2 | 323.6 |
2022 | 10 | 2 | 75.9 |
20 | 2 | 252.8 |
* Production allocated to the Banco de Portugal and awarded to Valora, S.A.; actual production may differ from allocated production, provided that it is within the range established by the Eurosystem. As of 2020, it corresponds to the production allocated to the Banco de Portugal under the cooperation agreement established with the BNB and the OeNB.
